


Green Sky

by Hayato (TheLennyBunny)



Series: Shades of the World [1]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Complete, Gen, corresponding tag on tumblr: Green Sky AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-11
Updated: 2017-11-23
Packaged: 2019-01-31 21:34:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12690639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLennyBunny/pseuds/Hayato
Summary: Nana Sawada flees Italy and becomes Shimizu Takara.Midoriya Izuku is born in Japan and has eyes that glow orange.





	1. Lightning/Sky

Nana Sawada is named after her grandmother, and she hates most things in her life. She hates the expectations she’s forced to follow, the lessons she’s forced to learn. She hates how she’s seen as lesser thanks to the green flame that lights her eyes and mutates her hair. She sometimes hates her aunts and uncles, for being complicit in it all and accepting it. Uncles Takeshi and Ryohei were civilians before they moved with Pappa, but they act like there’s nothing wrong with the way their lives have gone. Uncle Ryohei doesn’t understand why Aunt Kyoko moved home after Nana and Giotto were born. Nana doesn’t think he ever will.

Even Giotto doesn’t seem to get it, not really. He hates their lessons, and the expectations, but it’s the hatred of a rebellious teen. It’s not the emotion of someone drowning.

Pappa is the only one to fully understand. She comes across him sometimes when the estate is quiet, and he looks so sad, so tired, that she aches herself. He’s looked at her and Giotto with regret since they were little, grieving, and when she first had her flames tested, the relief on his expression was painful, until it slid right into resignation. She knows why; she’ll be expected to take up the mantle of the Lightning Guardian when Giotto ascends.

He talks to her like she’s already an adult and asks what she wants, always. If she wants to learn a new subject, begin a new instrument, learn how to make this meal or that, look at the photos of their family. Family without a capital, because he always makes the distinction where others don’t. When she has her rages, doesn’t let anyone near her using her green spikes, he waits patiently outside her reach and just watches. It doesn’t matter if he has paperwork or if Reborn is hounding him. He won’t move until everything smooths out and she’s left panting.

On their seventeenth birthday, after the celebrations and hours of smiling at people who would sooner rip her throat out for being an enemy, he pulls her aside into one of the unused offices, stops her from rushing to her room. Giotto is still in the ballroom, laughing at something Cousin Kurou said, and he’s playing with his flames like they’re a toy. For once, Pappa doesn’t so much as look in his direction, doesn’t berate or disapprove silently. He only keeps his eyes on her.

“Happy birthday, sweetie,” He starts with, smiling gently at her despite the bags under his eyes. “Did you enjoy the cake?” She did. It was one of the few things to enjoy, a red velvet monstrosity covered in chocolate. He chuckles at her nod, rubbing at his chin as he looks away. His eyes are orange, she notes. It’s off-putting. “There’s something… I think you should hear.”

Pappa takes a deep breath, sighs out in one large gust. “You remind me so much of myself, when I was younger. Not as hopeless or clumsy, no, but that spark in your eyes, the defiance and revulsion. Did you know I didn’t want to be Decimo for years after they broke it to me?” She stares. The idea of him ever being anything but the strong Don is… He grimaces at her expression.

“But you are now.”

“Only because Timoteo died right after my graduation. There were no obligations for me to use as an ‘excuse’.” His voice is bitter, dark, and Nana is left adrift, because this isn’t at  _ all  _ the father she’s used to. “I- we were all shunted to Italy, and immediately started filling in as best as we could. 

And Nana, I hated it. I was a civilian, I had morals- everyone around me was completely fine with murder, prostitution, smuggling, even rape. And they expected me to tolerate it. All the other civilians they pulled in, they adjusted, accepted. The only one to flee was your mother. No one- none of them  _ understood  _ why, understand why I’m fading.”

Nana stares at her father, worn down and tired, quiet and distant from almost everyone. The Aunts and Uncles have been whispering that his Flames were dimming since their tenth birthday. He doesn’t go out of the mansion anymore, doesn’t interact with most of his Guardians beyond Uncle Lambo and Mukuro and Aunt Chrome. She understands what they mean now, what he says.

Sawada Tsunayoshi looks back at her, desperate and guilty and determined.

“I can see the same thing happening to you, Nana. And I don’t want my child slowly wasting away like I am.” He pulls out a packet, identification forms and passport and bank statements for a foreign account, handing them over to her. They’re all in the name of Shimizu Takara, with the characters for pure, water, and treasure. She glances up at her father, breath frozen, hesitating, and he only smiles, and she can see the pain in it now. 

“Won’t the others be able to find me, look for me?”

He snorts, bitter and resentful. “You’re not a Sky. It’s doubtful you’ll produce one, with how strong your Lightning Flames are. They wouldn’t have a use for you. And I made sure no one knew what I was doing, that my tracks were covered. No one knew your grandmother’s maiden name beyond your grandfather and I, and he’s dead.” She looks back down at the papers, and sees the future stretching ahead of her, the little Intuition she inherited widening her mind’s eye.

It’s a way out, an escape. It’s a goodbye. 

She sobs once, and Pappa pulls her close. He hides his own tears in her shoulders as she cries in relief and grief. She’ll never see him again, with this, but she’ll be able to live. She’ll never hate him. But she thinks she hates herself a little, for leaving.

* * *

Shimizu Inko grows up with a fiercely supportive mother, who constantly asks what she wants, how she feels, if she needs help. Quirks are in full swing by the time Inko is born, and her mother isn’t shocked when suddenly at age three, she’s pulling things towards her without so much as touching them. Unlike some parents that have been talked about on the news, her mother sits her down and tells her she doesn’t love her less, and that they’ll figure out how to help her learn control so she doesn’t somehow hurt herself.

Inko’s mother is a good mother, if a sad one. She looks at photographs that Inko isn’t allowed to touch, maintains weapons that she shouldn’t have, uses a Quirk that shouldn’t be. The night Inko catches her lighting the room with green spikes, her mother pulls her aside and explains that Quirks aren’t the only thing out there.

Flames have existed long before Quirks, and will continue to exist in spite of them. Inko isn’t particularly strong-willed enough to call on her own, but she’s content in knowing that if needs must, she has a yellow failsafe for when things go absolutely horrid.

At seventeen, a year before her wedding, Shimizu Takara pulls her aside and explains over a period of three hours what their family legacy is. Blood, death, crime. Flames, power, crushing of wills. Running, and escaping. She explains that no one must ever know, if she can help it, but that Inko must remember these names, so she knows not to associate with them.

La Vongola is one of the up-and-coming organisations to deal with Quirks and the crime caused by them. The leader, Giotto Sawada, is noted to say he was inspired by his sister and father to begin such an endeavor. Her mother, when she brings this up, smiles with a glimmer of bitterness in her eyes and says that her flight must have been what really inspired him.

Inko resolves to keep far away from the issue as best she can, and marries her highschool sweetheart, a Midoriya Hisashi. He’s a talkative man, constantly rambling about whatever topic has recently caught his interest; most revolve around Quirks. He looks at her like she’s hung the moon and makes an effort to soothe her worry without being condescending. His eyes never glimmer a different colour than his natural black, and his hair is an ashy grey thanks to his Quirk. She loves him. They have Midoriya Izuku seven years later, after she’s finished her schooling and has opened up her law office.

He has the extra toe joint, and the doctors are baffled at four by what they assume to be a mutation of his father’s Quirk despite it. She looks at his flickering orange eyes and knows differently.

She is worried for him. Vongola is an international name. Flames have never been mentioned in the twelve years she’s kept watch, but it doesn’t mean much in the face of danger.

* * *

Midoriya Izuku pulls people in. He’s bubbly and bright, making friends with anyone who will stick and gushing about heroes and All Might. He sticks up for others despite being supposedly Quirkless, doesn’t back down when Kacchan tries to ostracize him and get everyone else on board. Kacchan sees him fall from a bridge and cushion his fall with a flower of orange flame. He sees his eyes regularly shift to an orange glow, fierce as the determination they backlight. Kacchan does not think he is Quirkless, hates that he calls himself that, but he is. Sky Flames aren’t a Quirk, and aren’t something to discuss.

He is still isolated, but less so than he could have been. Katsuki's bullying doesn't take hold, and people only avoid him thanks to the blond's possessiveness. Kacchan stays beside him, and Izuku quietly basks in the link that is there one day, tinted red.

Izuku and his mother practice control constantly, meditating to make them peak and ebb. Hers are harder to access, Sun Flames tamped down by lack of necessity and anxiety. Izuku practically runs on determination; his are near second nature. 

By thirteen, he can control them to a fine point. By fourteen, Kacchan has convinced himself that either Izuku’s Quirk is simply too small to be called such a word, or the board who diagnosed him was composed of shitheads. By fifteen, Izuku is determined to be a hero despite what everyone else says, and his eyes are near-constantly orange. Most of his classmates don’t remember a time they weren’t. The teachers scoff behind their hands and condescend to him, trying to convince him to go into science or the police force. Kacchan stays quiet until they go home, and then looks at him seriously and says he’s a fucking idiot if he believes them.

At fifteen, Izuku meets a gaunt man and has the breath in his chest catch as a link snaps in place within a day.

* * *

All Might’s flames are like a heady mix, urging him to relax and close his eyes and let the man take over. It’s enlightening to just how he’s made such headway in the world.

The man doesn’t even seem to realise what he’s doing, using. Izuku doesn’t tell him, and guiltily revels in the harmonisation.

* * *

Izuku is used to exercising control, fine-tuning his body to the point that using his Flames comes as second nature no matter how he directs them. One for All is sort of like that, except the control needed has shrunk from pushing a tire through a doorway to threading a needle with one eye shut.

He has multiple fractures in his arms and legs after the entrance exam, but nothing’s broken, and he manages to get in, so it can be ignored. So can the fledgling link, in his opinion, because he was an idiot and maybe the tiny Sun will go away on its own.

(Not likely. He hopes that girl gets in, if only so he isn’t stuck yearning for her to be nearby all the time.)

His mother cooks a feast when they get his acceptance letter, and the Bakugous come over and create a warm cacophony of noise. That night, Kacchan stays over, and he drags Izuku close when he closes his door, gripping his arm painfully as he slams a fist on the wall.

“I know what your fucking Quirk is, Izuku, and it isn’t some shitty strength augmentation. What the fuck did you do?”

Izuku, for lack of a better way to avoid All Might’s secrets, explains what Flames are. His Quirk supposedly came in late thanks to them, and Katsuki absorbs the lie with a thoughtful scowl.

Then the blond demands he show him how to access his.

* * *

Kacchan lights up red days before their first day at Yuuei, and his bloodthirsty grin has Izuku grinning as well, for all that this is a giant mistake.

* * *

Izuku realises, belatedly, that there may be a problem when he walks into the classroom with Kacchan.

Not one person in the room is a Sky.

There’s an overabundance of Rains and Suns, a Lightning and Storm here and there- even a Mist, in Tokoyami-san- but no Skies. He’s the only one here.

On one hand, that means he won’t be competing with another and end up sowing Discord. On the other, that means  _ he is in literally the worst position and will be risking harmonisation with everyone here _ .

He thanks all the gods in the heavens when Aizawa-sensei turns up and he can feel the thrum of Sky in him. He’s already harmonised with enough teachers- one is too much already.

* * *

No one broaches the topic of the occasional anomaly in class. Ever since the beginning of the year, there seems to be outbursts, despite long-established Quirks. During training, Asui will suddenly spark with green over her skin, or Iida’s engines will sputter with emerald smoke. Dark Shadow will flicker and seem almost mist-like, sometimes, and Sero’s tape will be tinted blue.

No one says anything, because it’s weird, and they chalk it up to the peculiarity that comes with Yuuei learning.

* * *

It’s thanks to the Sports Festival everything comes crashing down. The fact Todoroki bursts into purple flames and Izuku’s hands catch fire without burning may have something do with it.

He wakes up after the surgery and rubs at the new scars running up his arms from being caught in the spears of Todoroki’s ice, ignoring the new bond in favour of pursing his lips and wondering how much they’re going to limit his mobility, whether or not Todoroki is okay, what the  _ hell  _ that display out there is going to cost him-

When All Might sits down by the bed and asks why he lied to him.

Izuku stares at him blankly. He has no idea what the hell the man is on about.

“Your Quirk, young Midoriya. You told me you didn’t have one.” All Might’s are piercing, and his lips are drawn into a deep frown and Izuku would feel guilty usually for causing such an expression but  _ he’s messed up so bad and all he feels is regret _ .

“It’s not a Quirk.”

“Your head and hands caught fire without assistance, and you don’t have one burn on you. If not a Quirk, what is it?” Izuku breathes deeply and wishes his life was less complicated. He holds a hand out, patiently waits for the hero to stop staring at it and to hesitantly put one of his own in it. It’s slightly difficult doing this, used as he is to manipulating only his own flames, but he has practice with Katsuki, and the link they have makes things all the easier.

All Might jolts and makes a strangled noise when his hand lights up blue. He snatches it away and watches as the flame flickers but doesn’t die, harmless as he brushes his fingers along it.

“What-?”  
“Everyone can do it. It just depends on how desperate they are. The um, ability I guess? To use them is really strong in my family, so I’ve known about them for years. Kacchan assumes they’re a Quirk too.” All Might stares as the flames finally die out, leaving only his pale skin.

“Why not say anything?” Izuku hesitates, waffling, but this is his hero, this is the man who understands what it’s like to be Quirkless and has seen decades of evil.

“My family… Have you heard of La Vongola?”

All Might blinks, leans back. “The European Hero Network? Who hasn’t?”

“They’re former criminals,” Izuku says bluntly. “A Mafia family up until Quirks appeared and my grandmother ran away. I don’t really know why they turned a new leaf, but they’re so well known for using these Flames in the underworld that someone even suspecting me of having them puts a target on my back.” All Might baulks, looks ready to argue with him, but he looks closer at Izuku’s expression, the solemnity in his eyes and still way he holds himself. Izuku expects him not to believe, to deny it. But All Might has seen traitors in his lifetime, seen criminals flip allegiance and morals like a switch when it suited them. He does not argue with what Izuku’s said, implied, admitted, and instead looks down at his hand contemplatively.

“Yours were orange.”

Izuku shrugs. “Different colours, different types. There’s seven, and they can all do different things. I’m pretty sure you actually use yours a lot, unconsciously, since that one has a sort of calming effect on others and you sort of leak it like a faucet. Mine, the orange, can uh,” He trails off, winces. “They can link others to me, I guess…? And let me. Do. Things to them.”

All Might is not an idiot. 

“Izuku-kun, how long have we been… linked, you said?”

“How long have I known you?”

* * *

Todoroki asks what the hell happened during the Festival. Izuku is forced to confess, because there’s only so much that can be written off, and purple fire isn’t really comparable to green exhaust smoke or blue tape.

He mentions the bond, because he feels like the other boy deserves to know. How it won’t hinder him, affect him, do more than let him stay level-headed a little longer.

Todoroki looks contemplative when they part ways. Izuku doesn’t know what that means for him.

* * *

Izuku is pulled out of class on the Thursday following the Festival, right before their week-long work studies. Izuku tries to convince himself he wasn’t two steps from a panic attack.

Izuku fails to convince himself and has to start doing breathing exercises as Aizawa walks them to the principal’s office, tug on the calm and let his eyes flicker orange. The man eyes him and stops them a few turns from the door.

“Midoriya, do you need to go to Recovery Girl?” Izuku shakes his head, because he can’t do this, but if he  _ doesn’t,  _ who knows what will happen.

A man is talking amicably with Nezu when they enter, stirring a cup of tea. He’s elderly, hair going a shade of grey from the brown it must have been. His eyes are a deep orange, Izuku notes, and he holds himself like a fighter. He looks up when the two enter, and his eyes unerringly fall on Izuku, and there’s  _ grief,  _ so strong that Izuku flinches back.

“Ah, Aizawa-kun, why don’t we give these two some privacy for now? I’m sure they have much to discuss.” Nezu knows something, then. Izuku watches the two leave, Aizawa protesting as he keeps an eye on Izuku right up until the door closes. It leaves the two alone, and Izuku slowly turns back to the man, who’s waiting patiently.

“Midoriya-kun, is it? It’s nice to meet you. Do you know who I am?”

“Giotto Sawada. Leader of the EHN.” Sawada smiles at him, approving.

“Very good! Yuuei’s Festival is broadcasted all over the world, you know, thanks to how famous the school is; we got it all the way over in Italy, and saw your wonderful performance.” Izuku cocks his head. He knows for a fact he put up a weak front- it was something he’d been beating himself up over. While he showed a definite amount of strategy and tactics during the cavalry and race, his spars fell to the wayside thanks to his loss of control. The man isn’t here to laud him for a performance that unbalanced. 

Izuku glances out through the window. He could play the fool, let the man’s probing slide off him like water on a duck. Could call for help, alert the teachers instantly and have the man pulled off the premises. Or he could confront him, shove it all in his face, emphasize just why they were in this room right now, having this conversation.

Bitterness ran deep in their family.

“Would you please get to the point, Sawada-san? Skirting around the issue isn’t going to confirm your suspicions faster. I’m sure you already know anyways.” The man’s gaze sharpens, and his smile settles into something more reserved.

“Aa, my apologies, Midoriya-kun. I just thought it would help settle your nerves some. Tell me, do you know your grandmother’s name?”

Izuku tilts his head. “Don’t you? You didn’t have one of yours look into it the moment you saw me?” Sawada’s expression turns brittle at that, regretful and resigned at the same time.

“We moved on from that business a long while ago, Midoriya-kun... I suppose the image Nana painted wasn’t a kind one.” Izuku snorts, because that was putting it mildly.

“Sure. Is there a  _ reason  _ you’re here though? Are you here to beg forgiveness, demand to know where she is, wipe me out? I wouldn’t be surprised, from what I heard of Xanxus and other opposers.” The elderly man sighs, and digs into his pocket, pulling out a box with a crest Izuku had been taught to fear all his childhood. He freezes as the man holds it out to him.

“The Vongola is a dying family, Midoriya-kun. I don’t have any heirs, don’t plan to, and these rings are useless to anyone who isn’t blood.” Izuku swallows roughly, taking the box and opening it shakily. They’re simple things, silver bands with rock pendants mounted on them. Deceiving.

“Why?”

Sawada looks out the window, watching the clouds in the sky. “... I feel these rings cannot continue to perpetrate evil, if they are in the hands of someone my sister guided. She was a good soul, for all that she suffered in our home. It… I hope you find some use in them, Midoriya-kun. This legacy ends with you.”

Izuku stares down at the rings and tries to breathe around the stone in his throat. 

* * *

Izuku tells his mother. He would never hide this from her. She’s terrified, pacing and muttering to herself and calling up Oba-san. His grandmother throws a fit and instantly heads to their apartment, eventually ending up in their kitchen, holding the rings up the light and squinting.

He tells her everything that’s happened so far. Winces as his mother sighs at the near-complete Set he’s built and the fact he used Flames on live television. Mentions One for All, because his grandmother is a force unto her own, and she will know if he’s lying.

She sits quietly for a long time, staring down at the box. Then she asks if he knows who All for One is.

* * *

He hesitantly approaches Kacchan and the others, right before they leave. He doesn’t know what else to do with them, and in this way, they’ll at least have some use instead of scaring him every time he opens his bag.

Kacchan accepts the ring with wary annoyance, nearly throwing the thing before Izuku explains that it’ll amplify his flames. Then he shoves it on a finger and cuffs Izuku over the head, griping over how he got it.

Todoroki stares at him blankly, with a tinge of uncertainty. He doesn’t seem to quite know what to do with the gift, but slips it on regardless. Izuku is thankful- maybe this time only a hand will erupt in purple instead of  _ his whole side. _

(He doubts it. Flames seem to blend with Quirks, when they’re used.)

Ochako is confused, when he first hands it to her, and he has to awkwardly explain it, try to shove what should be at least an hour of explanation into a few minutes. She gets, eventually, that it’s meant to help her and amplify what she can do, and thanks him for it. They both ignore their blushes for the sake of sanity.

All Might… He hesitates. He doesn’t want to presume, doesn’t want to insert himself where he’s not welcome. There’s a difference, he thinks, giving these to a mentor, than there is to a friend.

He goes to Hosu without handing him the Rain’s band.

* * *

Iida.  _ Iida, why _ .

On one hand, Izuku can understand, thanks to his own family troubles. On the other hand,  _ this isn’t the goddamn Princess Bride.  _ And that isn’t even counting the revelations of today. 

Fun fact of the day: One for All is somehow  _ easier  _ when he’s in Dying Will mode, and Izuku spent the whole time during that fiasco with a flame on his forehead and orange glowing under his skin. He didn’t even sprain anything, thanks to the control he was exerting, and he thinks he knows the way to harness the Quirk, now.

Also fun fact of the day: Iida is a Lightning!  _ Iida is a Lightning who is very vulnerable and there when Izuku is not bonded to one yet. _

He passes the ring to the boy in the hospital and fights the urge to put his head in his hands. Yuuei is ruining literally every conviction he had, just a year ago.

* * *

Izuku gives All Might the ring when he pulls the teenager in to tell him about All for One. Izuku already knows, feels the danger like a lash on his tongue.

He wants this reassurance, this promise the ring demands, and All Might gives it to him guiltily. He has the sickening certainty when he brings up the future that the man won’t be in it, if they aren’t careful. He refuses to let that pass.

* * *

The summer retreat is horrible. Mangling, a limb cut off from him and the stump aching. He can feel Kacchan across their bond, through the distance and resistance. Felt the others fighting for their lives, Tenya Shouto Ochako  _ Tokoyami _

_ No _

The others gather under the cover of night. Kirishima was mentioning a plan, gearing up for subterfuge, but Izuku shot him down when they visited. This isn’t a time to rely on others. This is between the Sky and his elements.

They look grim as they head east, following the direction of Izuku’s pull. The ring on his finger sits heavy, and he wonders how much flame it’d take to purify the albino man.

 

The heroes are near, Izuku knows, and it makes them have to hurry all the more. Tokoyami doesn’t know how to fully manipulate his Flames, used to only using them in tandem with Dark Shadow, and Izuku coaxes him through an illusion based on what he’s been taught. Tenya keeps his engines revved, while Shouto and Ochako serve as lookouts. They have one chance at this.

The bar has a basement, and they go through that. Mist cloaks them, keeps them from view, and when they open the door, the few turned their way don’t look. Kacchan, when he spots them through it, grins so widely it looks like it hurts and spits the offer back in the villain’s face.

Izuku sends out a flower burst of Flame just as All Might crashes in, and Kacchan is snatched out of the air as they rocket through the hole the hero created. They laugh hysterically as they speed away on Izuku and Tenya’s backs.

* * *

Izuku pulls people in. He forgets this, because the only friend he’s managed to hold over the years is Katsuki. He won’t realise until later, far along in the progression of things, that his Attraction is strong, morals and personality compelling, and that people just can't resist. He doesn't understand why, despite what he was taught, doesn't know how he's filled his Sky this easily. Nevertheless.

The slime attack. USJ. The Sports Festival, Hosu, the summer retreat, they’re all scenes of conflict, trial, the best moments to spark harmonizing, and he falls for each one.


	2. Lightning/Cloud

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (人´∀｀)．☆．。．:*･°

Iida Tenya grows up loved by his parents and brother. Tensei is on his way into high school when he’s born, attending Yuuei and groaning over his classmates and friends. Tenya is brought up on the ideals of a hero, saving people and keeping the peace. He grows up blunt to a point, loud and expansive in his gestures.

His Quirk is obvious- he’s had the engines since he was born. Less developed, sure, but it wasn’t like he was going to be using them as a baby anyways. The oddities that come with it- flickering eyes and occasionally emerald exhaust- are things that can be ignored. It’s not like they’re going to hamper his determination to be like his older brother.

* * *

The green boy during the exam is strange. His Quirk seems to be a mishmash of different things, augmented strength paired with some sort of flame-based ability, along with what must be some attraction-based factor, because Tenya can’t help wanting to follow him around. They’re close during the exams regardless of what he does, and he watches the smaller boy divine the true purpose of the exams and save the brunette, keeping her from being crushed by tons of steel. He has to admire him, for figuring it out and risking himself.

So when they end up in the same class, he takes the boy seriously, and apologises for his assumptions. Midoriya is amiable enough about it, and they strike up an easy friendship, after that.

* * *

There’s a pull to Midoriya, he notices, an urge to glance back at him or follow, listen to what he says. He’s truly charismatic despite his appearance, and it shows in the fact he manages to befriend the whole class. Bakugou is the most obvious example, crass and loud and not at all with the makings of a good hero; Midoriya and the blond, in spite of this, are thicker than thieves. Metaphorical thieves.

They hover around each other, go home together and, if what he’s heard is to be believed, spar together. They’re  _ childhood friends _ . He doesn’t understand it, and neither does Uraraka when he attempts to bring it up subtly (for him). Then again, he also doesn’t understand how Midoriya managed to completely silence Mineta’s sexist comments, but that doesn’t mean he views it negatively. It’s simply another piece of the puzzle that is Midoriya Izuku.

* * *

The emerald exhaust he occasionally has worsens after he begins class at Yuuei. Maybe worsens isn’t the right word? The frequency increases, but it doesn’t seem to have an adverse effect. At most, maybe, his legs will become slightly stiffer, and his pipes will ring less if he accidentally slams into something.

The others notice strange happenings with their own Quirks, because he does actually ask around and see if it’s an anomaly. Uraraka says she’s less nauseous after practice, although she can’t tell if it’s because she’s becoming more experienced, and Yaoyorozu says it’s taken less effort to create things. She’s needed to pay less attention to the individual components, which is strange, since usually that ends in explosions or useless products. He’s observed for himself without asking that Mineta’s balls have started multiplying once he pulls one off his head, and Aoyama’s laser tends to glow more red than pink some days.

Midoriya, he notices, experiences absolutely zero changes, except for his eyes frequently glowing and the occasional burst of fire that he’ll blame on Bakugou. When they mention the topic to him, he shrugs his shoulders and says he hasn’t noticed anything different.

* * *

The USJ incident is. Terrifying, is a good word. Leaving Thirteen-sensei and Aizawa-sensei to protect the rest of the class is nerve-wracking because he trusts them, they’re professional heroes, but it’s multiple villains, and multiple targets to protect. He has to hurry, for them, has to make sure everyone is safe,  _ push with every fiber of his heart _ . He pushes himself the whole way there, fights through dozens of near-stalls before he reaches Yuuei proper. The first teacher he finds is All Might, talking with the principal, and the man stares at him wide-eyed while he tries to catch his breath.

“Iida-kun, is that static on your engines-?”

“No time- villains, at USJ-” All Might’s expression hardens, and it’s quick work to radio that they need all available teachers to assemble, there’s been an attack and reinforcements are needed-

They sprint back just in time, the villains cornering Asui and Midoriya while Aizawa-sensei lays insensate on the ground, possibly not breathing, Tenya can’t tell- but they’re all  _ alive,  _ he made it in time, and even if so many are crying, and the monster they have is yowling, he  _ did it _ .

He visits Midoriya later, just as he’s leaving Recovery Girl’s ward, feels the urge to make sure he’s alright. He’d been the only student to need medical attention, because of course, Midoriya always managed to hurt himself somehow. He’s got a few bandages here and there when they meet, but nothing major, which is relieving. 

“Midoriya! It’s good to see you weren’t grievously injured! Tsuyu told me that you had directly challenged the villains.” Tenya injects some disapproval into his voice because that was  _ not okay _ , but Midoriya only laughs sheepishly, rubbing at his head while he grins.

“Aa, that wasn’t really smart, was it? But I couldn’t just let them keep hurting Aizawa-sensei…” They both pause as they consider the grim condition of their teacher. Midoriya eventually clears his throat, shaking off the gloominess. “Anyways, I’m alright! That er, monster they had, only clipped my side! Easy for Recovery Girl to take care of.”

“Only- it clipped your side!?” Midoriya waves off his shock, beginning to walk down the hall. Tenya follows, because what else is there to do?

“Not too badly. It was too busy screaming at that point, I think? My uh, Quirk. Was a bit too effective.” Tenya ogles him. The small teen is completely serious. “It’s really not as bad as it sounds. Look- if you really want to hear this, do you want to go somewhere? I’m hungry after getting healed by Recovery Girl.”

They go to a cafe near the school. Midoriya slowly outlines what happened while Tenya was racing back to the school, and listens to him go off on a tangent about the villains’ Quirks. It’s oddly soothing, and he spends the hours before he heads home calm and content.

* * *

Midoriya invites him and Uraraka to sparring practice, in preparation for the Sports Festival. He mentions Bakugou will be there as well, and while he doesn’t like the caustic teen, there is benefit to workouts that don’t utilize their Quirks.

Somehow, the whole class ends up coming. 

It’s pure chaos, with people gearing for first match, wanting to go against certain classmates, starting fights outside them thanks to small comments or teasing. Bakugou blows up in Kirishima’s face, both metaphorically and literally, and Tsuyu manages to fling Mineta all the way across the park at a point.

Despite it, Tenya leaves with a ball of contentment sitting behind his ribs.

* * *

During the Sports Festival, Todoroki lights up in purple fire, Midoriya’s head  _ catches  _ fire and doesn’t burn, and Tenya’s own exhaust pipes burst into emerald as they race towards the ten million point headband. There’s still no rhyme or reason to why their whole class is suddenly bursting into technicolour fire.

He catches the tail end of a conversation between Midoriya and Todoroki and his curiosity soars, he wants to ask just what’s going on with their families, if they’re alright-

But then Aizawa-sensei pulls him aside, says he has a call from his family, about his brother. And then the mystery of Midoriya and Todoroki is completely gone from his mind for a long, long while.

* * *

While the ambulances are called and someone carefully looks at Tenya’s arm, he looks over at Midoriya and feels something click inside him, a flooding of warmth and safety that had been missing before. Here was the friend who willingly hunted him down, protected him and kept him from his own stupidity. He’s grateful to him, to Todoroki, for not listening. He’d be dead if they had. Tenya promises to himself, with that warmth in his core and the guilt in his heart, that he’ll never leave them alone, stay by them as they did him. It’s the least he can do.

“Ah, Iida-kun, I didn’t know you had a mutative feature. That’s not noted in your file.” He turns back to Manual, wondering what he’s talking about. The confusion must show on his face, because Mizushima continues, clarifying, “Your eyes- they turned green just now. But they’ve gone back to red.”

Tenya blinks. He doesn’t know what he can say to that. Doesn’t comment on it, as they go back to the hospital and he’s told he’ll need surgery to repair the damage to his arm. The three of them are in the same room, and it’s solemn after they make their declarations, the warmth in his chest strengthening.

“Ah- that’s the bond, right?” Todoroki suddenly asks. He patting at his chest, and Tenya. Stares. Bond? “I didn’t know I could feel it.”

“I didn’t know that could happen, actually,” Midoriya replies sheepishly. Tenya stares between them both.

“What are you two talking about? Do you mean the warm feeling?”

Midoriya stares, and then carefully asks what he’s talking about. He explains the sudden burst of heat after the reinforcements arrived, and throws in the eye thing as well since that happened at the same time, and has the pleasure of watching Midoriya put his head in his hands and scream quietly. He is very worried.

And then Midoriya, first requesting he call him Izuku, explains what Flames are. How they’re accessed, what they do, what he has. Takes his and Todoroki’s hands gently and concentrates, sighing when they light up green and purple respectively.

“These aren’t Quirks, or anything like that- they’ve been around for centuries longer than Quirks. But they affect them, I’m pretty sure- the effect on Todoroki-kun’s is pretty obvious, but I’ve also seen your engines pumping out green smoke before, and even uh, some of the others’. It’s really obvious, once you know what to look for.”

He only asks how Izuku knows all this, because in light of Quirks, magic fire isn’t that strange. Nor a bond with him; to be frank, Midoriya Izuku is an oddity, and while he respects and likes the other boy, he’s learned not to apply logic to much of what happens around him.

Izuku quietly talks about his grandmother’s flight and pulls out a box of rings. When he offers one to Tenya, hesitant and shy, grimacing, Tenya takes it and slides it on the hand of his injured arm.

Two reminders. One of his own hubris, and one of the support at his back.

* * *

He notices the Flames now, notices the others. All Might, Todoroki, Bakugou, and Uraraka all have rings alongside him, around their necks or on their hands. Uraraka and Bakugou wear theirs like badges, while All Might hides his on a silver chain and Todoroki keeps his in a small pouch. He wonders if that’s why they gravitate to each other.

Against reason, despite their conflicting personalities, they end up together more often than not, arguing at lunch or heading out after school to study or go to the market district. Uraraka will want to go check sales, or Bakugou will want to look at new hero merch, or Todoroki will want to find more Quirk-specific equipment. Tenya will guide them to the library, or Izuku will push them to the park, and they’ll spend the afternoon sparring or lazing around. Through it all, the green-haired boy stays at their center, calming arguments before they start or encouraging grins and jokes.

The day he manages to get Uraraka and Bakugou yelling together at a television playing wrestling matches, Tenya realises what the boy’s Flame must do. He hadn’t gone into depth, when he explained them, only mentioned that Tenya's usually functioned as a hardening agent and was electrically conductive. But Tenya knows, instinctively, that Izuku’s must bring people together. Pull them in, grab them like a lure to a fish, and then tame them.

_ Or, _ he thinks, watching Bakugou nearly set the table on fire,  _ not tame. But galvanizes them. Inspires growth that wouldn’t happen without them. _

* * *

Bakugou is gone. Izuku is in the hospital, and from what they overheard, he doesn’t have much use left of his arms thanks to his recklessness. A little more trauma, and they’ll be useless.

_ Unacceptable _ .

He looks between Uraraka and Todoroki. Their eyes glimmer gold and purple, and they stay when the others leave, hovering in the corners. When Tokoyami doesn’t exit with the rest of the class, they’re confused, suspicious, until they see the echoing glimmer in his eyes and realise Izuku managed to get to him.

Tenya is unsurprised. Izuku is a force unto himself, at this point.

Todoroki is the one to ask what they can do to help. If they can heal him some, what the plan for Bakugou is, how quickly they’ll be moving out. Izuku stares at them with amber eyes and motions Uraraka forward.

They yellow flames are called Sun, and can heal and improve the efficiency of their targets. The little damage left in Izuku’s arms is smoothed away, and then they begin to plan.

Todoroki buys the tickets they’ll need, while Uraraka coordinates their alibis. Tenya ensures Izuku will be checked out of the hospital before nightfall, and Tokoyami solemnly listens to Izuku’s explanation, watches as they call upon their flames as best as they can. Izuku’s head lights up, the pads of Uraraka’s fingers, Tenya's pipes.

They give him an out, Izuku sad but willing to try and sever the bond built. Tokoyami stares at him steadily before holding his hand out for the ring.

No one can hold out against the pull of Izuku.

* * *

It’s nerve-wracking, sitting just out of sight and waiting for the hint that the three have made it out, that they need to run. Todoroki and Uraraka are positioned at the end of the street and the roof, keeping watch for the heroes Izuku said were coming while Tenya keeps his engines revved, Lightning Flame guts out of his exhaust, a flare in the night. It’s a danger, but necessary.

The heroes are gathering outside the bar, they can see now from across the street, a half-circle tensing for battle as All Might rockets through the wall, completely destroying it. As they charge in, a mass rockets out, Bakugou cackling as he, Tokoyami, and Izuku speed forward on powerful bursts of Flames. Uraraka drops from her post on the roof, Todoroki readies his flame, and they all speed off as the villains struggle against the professional heroes.

Watching the fight unfold on the large screen in the city square is mildly horrifying. All Might is shining blue, a beacon in the darkness even as the main villain fights him back inch by inch. It’s heart-stopping, every hit that is landed on the Number One, but it’s also invigorating every blow that the man himself manages.

Tenya glances over, once it seems that the villain has been subdued, All Might’s fists glowing fluorescent cyan and his form flagging, the whole block destroyed. The majority of the group is caught in the moment, cheering with the crowd. But not Izuku. His face is devastated, a rictus of grief.

“Izuku-kun?” The green-haired boy looks over at his whisper, the screen cutting away, a reporter hurriedly talking.

“His flame’s gone out. He’s done.”

* * *

Tenya’s parents are very agreeable to the dorm plan. There’s no reason for them not to be, they’re heroes themselves and understand the risks and benefits, but for one moment, he was dead certain they would refuse, pull him out of Yuuei completely and declare it too dangerous. They’ve already almost lost both their sons to heroics, after all.

Tenya doesn’t tell them about Flames. He tells Tensei, because Tensei is… Tensei, but not a whisper goes to them. His brother is troubled at the idea, doesn’t understand how it could have been hidden so long, but Tenya sees why. People ignore what they don’t want to see, and rationalize what they cannot ignore. They explained away his Flames for years as a byproduct of his Quirk. Izuku’s was thought to be his, thanks to how late his own came in.

Tenya knows better, now.

* * *

Izuku invites them all over for dinner the night before they’re to move to the dorms. Tenya agrees, and shows up half an hour early with a small potted plant. Izuku stares at it and him with fond amusement when he opens the door, and ushers him inside.

Shimizu-san is like a female, less tired version of Aizawa-sensei. She stares at Tenya for three minutes straight before nodding and asking what it’s like, being a hero. He doesn’t know whether to feel relief or more worry. Was Izuku’s grandfather the one he got his personality from?

(Izuku and Inko got their personalities from Nana’s father, may God guide his soul. Nana is thankful every day for that.)

Eventually, the others show up at what is a perfectly reasonable time for normal people, Bakugou shoving a bottle of sake at the adults while Todoroki hesitantly hefts a container of dango and generally squints at them all. Tenya has a feeling he doesn’t have much experience with casual interaction.

The night is warm, and the food is good. Tokoyami’s family apparently makes instruments, and Uraraka knows how to flip twice her size someone over her back. Todoroki likes, of all things, cheesy horror flicks, and they spend a good portion of the night debating the flaws of the Saws series. Shimizu-san is oddly familiar with the correct bodily responses to torture.

Then again, considering her history, it’s not that surprising.

* * *

They move into the dorms on a sunny day, with Aizawa-sensei telling them they just barely escaped expulsion, and Kirishima blowing up at them for going ahead with the plan without saying anything. There’s no good way to explain it away, not without violating Izuku’s secrets, so they settle into a bitter simmer as they all unpack. It’s not ideal, but…

Their Set is complete again. They're all safe, and life is settling again. Tenya is satisfied.

* * *

* * *

Todoroki Shouto is born to a father that detests him for his weakness, and a mother who detests him for his blood. He doesn’t interact with others, doesn’t do much beyond train and go to school. He doesn’t even realise he has siblings until he’s five and his mother isn’t there to take care of him anymore. His sister is the one to ensure his burn doesn’t become infected, those awful months.

His Quirk, for all that it achieves what his father had wanted, is also mutated, a failure in ways that couldn’t have been planned. When he’s particularly emotional, determined to finish this spar and  _ get away _ , his ice will be uncontrollable, spikes multiplying and turning into branches whenever he uses it. His fire will flare purple, a deep, strange colour. There is no explanation for it. Todoroki Enji is not satisfied.

Yuuei is an escape as much as it is a chance to prove himself different from his father.

* * *

The Quirk apprehension test yields multiple observations. The majority of his class provides nothing for him to regard as competition, most of their Quirks paling in comparison to Half-Cold Half-Hot. The only ones that truly stand out are the two practically glued to each other between tests.

Bakugou and Midoriya, if he heard their names correctly. Bakugou has an explosive Quirk with incendiary capabilities, red fire tinting his palms whenever he gets particularly abrasive. He does moderately well in the tests, using his explosions during the dash and pitch tests.

Midoriya, on the other hand. The small boy’s quiet in comparison to Bakugou, mumbling as he watches the others during the tests. His Quirk is something incendiary-based as well,   
Shouto’s pretty sure; he keeps seeing bursts of light from the teen’s hands, and during the pitch test, his hand lets off a flower of flame as the ball soars. Somehow, this leads to Midoriya dislocating his finger.  
Strange. But still someone to watch.

* * *

Midoriya and All Might are close. The man constantly has lunch with him, will focus on him during class, sometimes lay a hand on the boy’s shoulder he wouldn’t if he were a regular student. It has Shouto contemplating.

Do they already know each other, from before the school term? Maybe All Might saved him once, or he’s a family friend? He watches the two interacting, before deciding it can’t be as simple as that. There’s too much intimacy.

Maybe a blood relation?

* * *

Midoriya catches him staring.

Midoriya then invites him to an outing after school.

This is how Shouto ends up in a cat cafe, letting a tabby bat at his fingers and yowl for his mint and chocolate cake. Midoriya is sitting across from him, talking about  _ literally nothing important,  _ and Shouto is baffled.

(They both ignore Aizawa in the corner, three cats piled on top of him.)

“Why are you doing this?” Midoriya blinks at him.

“Well- talking is generally a thing people do, Todoroki-kun-”

“Inviting me out to a cafe. Acting like we’re friends.” Midoriya blinks again and purses his lips, fiddling with the latte he’d ordered. He doesn’t look insulted, which is a new experience for Shouto.

“Because you’re my classmate, and it seemed like a nice thing to do. Because even if we don’t talk much, I  _ want  _ to be friends.” The green-haired boy’s eyes seem to glow, and he smiles up at Shouto, a mischievous quirk to his lips. “Besides, we’re never going to be good heroes if we can’t work together with others. One of the largest parts of hero work is teamwork.”

Shouto lets Midoriya’s voice wash over at that point, contemplating his words.

* * *

The Sports Festival is a mess. Shouto can admit that with honesty.

His father attends for the first time in years, because of course he does, and it has Shouto on edge, makes him want to rip out his hair and snarl, freeze over the arena and let everyone else sort it out. He doesn’t, but it’s close.

Midoriya, for all that they’ve taken to going to cafes and doing absolutely nothing some days besides pet cats, is a rival, an obstacle in surpassing his father, and he needs to keep that in mind more than their strange friendship. The other boy isn’t offended when he declares he’s stronger, doesn’t make any grand exclamations or denials.

He just looks at Shouto, says quietly that he’ll give him a good fight, won’t be upset no matter who wins. Shouto doesn’t know how to take that.

The obstacle race is an embarrassment. The cavalry battle  _ stings _ , and he has to win, has to step out from that shadow, no matter what. He corners Midoriya during the break and spills his past, has it leak out more than it has with anyone else, and he barely understands  _ why  _ he’s doing it, just that he needs to. Midoriya gives him a look when he finishes that… isn’t pitying, but it isn’t sympathetic either. It’s  _ knowing. _

“You aren’t the only one with your family’s sins weighing on your back, Todoroki-kun. Don’t forget in all that determination that it’s you Quirk and not Endeavor’s, alright?” Midoriya really isn’t helping Shouto’s All Might pet theory. He doesn’t ask the boy about it, though, because the look in his eye says not to ask. They’re gearing to go back to the stands, prepare for the preliminaries, but.

Endeavor shows up, and Shouto feels his ice and flame bubble beneath the surface, ready to lash out at a moment’s notice. He barely notices how close he is to using his quirk until Midoriya takes a hand in his, and suddenly he’s reeling it all back, a blanket of calm being thrown over him despite the pressure in the hall ratcheting up.

“Go, boy. I need to speak with my son.” Endeavor’s tone is commanding, demanding obedience and promising trouble if it doesn’t come. Midoriya doesn’t budge an inch.

“Have you ever looked into how psychology affects Quirks, Todoroki-san?” His voice is sugar-sweet, innocent. Shouto has seen Midoriya send a villain screaming at the top of its lungs with one touch of flames. He is not innocent. “It’s been found recently that negative reinforcement can impair, and sometimes completely debilitate Quirks. Teachers have been advised in recent years to avoid discriminating amongst students thanks to the issues it can cause later in life. I wonder what the effect would be if it’s done from birth?”

_ Holy shit. _

Endeavor’s face purples in rage, his flames soaring to the ceiling. Shouto stares at Midoriya and wonders when the hell he missed  _ this _ , and fights the urge to rub at his chest, suddenly warm and strange.

They flee while Endeavor is choking on his rage and sit by a spindly, skeletal man until their matches are called. He introduces himself as Midoriya’s uncle, which, not helping the theory, not at all. Giant blond man with a deep voice?  _ Sure, not suspicious. Midoriya, what the fuck. _

Shouto watches Midoriya silently enrage a GE student and contemplates how he’s somehow gained a friend despite his best efforts.

 

(In one universe, where he was mostly a loner and did not have a patiently determined Sky at his side, Todoroki Shouto destroyed half the arena, and there was a break to rebuild it. This Todoroki Shouto is far less volatile, and sits on the satisfaction that comes from seeing his father incoherent with rage. Sero is still easily overcome, but Shouto keeps a handle on his emotions.)

 

Finally, their own match comes, and Midoriya holds up a hand after Midnight announces the beginning, staring at Shouto.

“You remember what I said during the break, right?” Midoriya said a great many things during break, most of them world-turning. “You aren’t your father, and your Quirk isn’t his. Acting any other way will be a disservice to the both of us.”

“My flame side-”

“Is yours. Not his. And I’m going to beat the shit out of you if you don’t use it and show off to the agencies like we’re supposed to.”

Shouto uses it. His flames burn vivid purple, and Midoriya’s head lights up as he rockets toward him.

All in all, the match is a draw. Their Quirks manage to balance each other out- because Midoriya’s flames are somehow cold, what the hell is  _ with  _ that- and Shouto only makes it to the finals because his ice goes out of control like it usually does and branches into dangerous trees. One of them catches the other teen’s arm, practically shredding it, and they have to call the match, unless they want it to get worse.

The strength augmentation, though. Midoriya looking at his flames and  _ blanching  _ of all things, when he was the one to tell him to pull them out. All these dots are collecting and leading him nowhere. He confronts the boy as they’re leaving, Bakugou slinging an arm over the smaller boy’s shoulders.

Midoriya looks at him with trepidation, glances at the blond next to him. Bakugou only raises a brow, unusually silent.

Shouto is pulled into a nearby restaurant, and listens to an explanation of universal fire magic.

* * *

Midoriya is shaken when he comes back to class, the day he’s pulled out. Shouto watches him, and makes sure to distract him during training. By the time they finish, everyone involved is sweaty and mildly frustrated, but that panicky, blank expression is gone from Midoriya’s face. He considers his job well done.

* * *

Midoriya hands him a ring.

Correction, he can do this much.  _ Izuku  _ hands him a ring. He listens to the boy’s babbled explanation that it’s supposed to focus his Flames and possibly his Quirk, thanks to how intertwined they are), he doesn’t need to accept, it’s just a tradition among a Set-

What’s a Set, Shouto asks. Izuku flushes darker than a ripened tomato.

It’s what a group is called when all Flame types have been gathered, Izuku mumbles. Shouto considers this, and slips the ring on his hand for now. There’s no reason to reject it, and they’re friends. Friends do this sort of thing, don’t they? 

Fuyumi gives him a pitying smile later and ignores his bristling hackles as she says some do, and it’s good he’s finally making some, isn’t it?

* * *

They barely make it out by the skin of their teeth when they fight Stain.

Iida’s on the ground when he arrives, not trusting the pit in his stomach and following the thread in his head leading elsewhere when the Noumu attack. Endeavor yells at him before choking on his words slightly, and Shouto puts that aside to contemplate later as he sprints, rushes through back alleys and finally comes upon the scene of Iida screaming at Izuku while the green-haired boy risks his life for him.

_ Ungrateful. Unworthy _ . He pushes the thought away as he sends a gut of purple flame at the serial killer. The man jumps back, but he smiles, an ugly thing that raises Shouto’s hackles.

“I didn’t know heroes used criminal tactics, these days. You’re alright using those Flames, little boy?” Shouto bares his teeth and lets his ice spike as Izuku finally springs back up, his own Flame a glow underneath his skin. “Oho! Two of you! And that colour- you’re a damn Ascendant! Do your teachers know they’re harboring baby yakuza?”

They ignore him, because, you know. That’s what you do, when a villain is being an asshole. Shouto likes to pretend they’re all his father for added fun, actually, but that’s less appropriate since they’re fighting for their lives right now. Him and Izuku weave in and out of each other’s paths like dancers, as though they’ve sparred together thousands of times instead of only a few. Izuku will jump high, directing a punch to the villain’s back while Shouto leads a spear of ice to his front and sides. The smaller boy will kick out ot unbalance him, while he tries to pin him. It’s a pattern they hadn’t established, but which is there anyways.

At some point, Iida tries to make them run, but Izuku screams something at him that has him shutting up. Shouto is thankful, because his method would be blunt and probably cause more screaming.

They take down the Hero Killer, and the accomplishment is shunted onto Endeavor, who absolutely  _ hates  _ it. Shouto is delighted, if slightly disappointed, and is even more satisfied when Iida gets passed one of the rings left in Izuku’s box. Good. There needs to be more people keeping this walking disaster magnet safe.

* * *

The trip back to Musutafu after the rescue is stifling. Bakugou is safe, All Might defeated that strange villain, but there’s a somber air between Tenya and Izuku, and the magnetic teen refuses to elaborate on what’s wrong, for once. Only says it’s not his secret to tell.

When All Might holds a press conference a few days later, saying that his Quirk was impaired by the battle and he can no longer serve, Shouto goes  _ oh, that’s what it all was _ , and continues readying himself for the dinner at the Midoriyas tonight. He has heaps of dango, because he doesn’t know what else to bring since sake isn’t exactly appropriate. As he walks there, he considers the possibilities. All Might is now out of commission, and Izuku had known it the moment it ended. Did that mean his intuition was acting up again, as it did, or did he already know? 

_ The gaunt man in the stadium _ . Hm. That… had been All Might. So Izuku must have known. And his Quirk was… eerily like the man’s, to the point where even Endeavor noticed. That, plus the slip-ups Izuku had made before of being bullied for being Quirkless until high school... Transference of some kind, maybe?

He lets that thought ferment as he tries to navigate a casual dinner with people who weren’t out for his blood in some way. It’s nice, even if Bakugou wouldn’t stop calling his taste in movies shit and Shimizu-san kept unnerving them all. Tokoyami proves a nice buffer, quiet as he was compared to the others. The two share a commiserating look when Uraraka socks the blond in the head, starting an argument. 

The things one puts up with for friends.

* * *

They move like a well-oiled machine in class, now. Spars prove pointless together, since the six of them don’t need to work on their teamwork. Eventually Aizawa just separates them, not that there’s much opportunity for sparring with the provisional exam on the way and everyone trying to create signature moves. They all merge their Flames into their attacks and pretend like it’s normal when teachers observe.

Shouto’s confident in his abilities, and is eager to see their Set advance in ways no one can ignore.


	3. Sun/Mist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ┐(´～｀)┌

Ochako has always been upbeat. It’s something she was taught, when she was younger and they still lived with her great-grandmother; the situation may be horrible, and you may want to cry, but if you put on a smile, things will seem better, and then they’ll  _ be  _ better. Anything’s possible if you stay strong and keep your smile. 

Kyoko-obasan loved sayings like that. Ochako thinks it kept the worst of the loneliness her parents whispered about away.

So Ochako stays upbeat, keeps a smile on her face as best she can, and stays determined as she reaches for her goals. If she can get into Yuuei, she’s almost guaranteed to a hero license, and then she can finally give back to her parents.

* * *

_ Nearly getting crushed is freaking scary! _

Ochako wipes at her mouth a with a grimace, staring at the boy who saved her. He’s grimacing, staring down at his hands with resignation while Present Mic calls time. Recovery Girl quickly shows up, healing them all with quick kisses, and Ochako’s relieved to have the nausea be swept away. It doesn’t erase the sad expression on the kid’s face.

“Hey! Are you alright?” His head shoots up, and he blinks at the hand outstretched to him like it’s an alien. He hesitantly takes it, letting her pull him up. “Thanks for saving me back there!”

“Ah- I-I’m sure anyone would have done it,” He stutters out.

“But they didn’t. They all ran away.” He blinks at that observation, and tilts his head in agreement. “Anyway, what’s your Quirk? I couldn’t tell, but it seemed like you were using fire  _ and  _ strength.”

They walk back together as Midoriya-kun stumbles over his words and explains what excess power can manifest as. There’s a warm ball in her chest, and she hopes he gets in. Maybe she can help in some way?

* * *

Izuku is there! She fights the urge to hug him when she first sees him and settles for grinning and congratulating him. The green-haired boy smiles at her, calmer than he was in the exams despite the blond yelling and causing explosions not two feet away from them.

She learns that his name is Bakugou Katsuki, and he stares at her with a gimlet eye before seemingly dismissing her with a tsk. She’d take offense if he didn’t seem to be that way with literally everyone, including Izuku to some extent.

Class progresses quick, with the teachers flinging them right into work. They even meet All Might, which is so! Cool! Even if he seems a little weird. Sort of like one of those television ads where the company tries too hard to be hip? It’s amazing meeting him, though!

Her and Izuku are paired up during the battle simulation, and she smiles at him as Iida and Bakugou gear up as well. Izuku seems to have it all mapped out in his head, Iida taking defense while Bakugou goes on offense and focuses on him, and he’s already planning around them.

He sends her off to sneak to the missile while he distracts Bakugou. Going by the screaming and explosions, it sounds less like distraction, but what does she know? The two seemed close, they probably weren’t really attacking each other.

…Probably.

She giggles at Iida’s earnest acting, and is found out, but it’s all good, since whatever Izuku’s doing ends up shaking the building and distracting her classmate. She uses her Quirk on herself, pushing up and soaring through the air towards the missile- until Iida takes it and dashes away. Darn!

Then the building sort of… Slides sideways. They both pause at the slowly creaking, tilting floor, and Ochako thinks she can dimly hear Izuku screaming  _ Goddamnit, Kacchan! _

Weird. She takes the opportunity to tag Iida, though. No need to go all out and get the missile after all, and he isn’t expecting it after how much she focused on it. Then the building heaved, and the side falls away with a great crash. They peer outside the hole and see Bakugou on the ground, being yelled at by Izuku while the green-haired teen wraps him up in progressively more tape than she remembers receiving. Bakugou is yelling back, but the effect is lessened by Izuku sitting on him.

Heroes win!

* * *

Ochako thinks she can understand how Bakugou is friends with Izuku, how everyone ends up being friendly with the green-haired boy. There’s just a… pull to him, the sort of one you’d expect a hero to have. She doesn’t doubt him when he says he wants to be the sort of hero who goes into every circuit, helping whenever he’s needed. She’s sure he can do it.

* * *

Izuku invites her to hang out with him and Bakugou, and she can’t really be disappointed that the blond will be there, not really. As much as he rubs her the wrong way, she feels safe around him. His temper and loudness don’t unnerve so much as annoy.

They go to a small, out of the way beach and practice moves until the sun lowers. Her form is apparently pretty bad, but Bakugou’s only gruff when he corrects her, and Izuku is cheerful as he says that she at least wouldn’t have hurt herself with her mistakes. Just fumble around a bit.

She learns that Bakugou likes spicy food, collects hero merch, and that Izuku adores rabbits and has a pet one named Small Might. She follows them home to Bakugou’s because they insist in their own way, and revels in the company and enthusiasm of family that she’s missed.

It becomes a habit.

* * *

Tsuyu doesn’t tell Iida everything, when he asks. Ochako knows this, because Tsuyu tells  _ her  _ everything, since she’s less likely to start yelling and get Izuku into more trouble.

When he had struck the monster the villains had brought with them, it had screamed. There wasn’t a visible mark, no indication that it had actually been hurt, but it screamed anyways, recoiled and scrabbled at its side like there was something there. And no one had understood what was going on, until the thing’s skin started to spiderweb, white breaking the black.

Then All Might had shown up, and Izuku had grabbed the white-haired villain in an attempt to stop the attack on the professional hero, and that was  _ worse _ . It was different, hearing the tones of a, an animal, compared to a person. 

She doesn’t know what Izuku did, doesn’t really want to know since it saved them, and the only other person to see it all was All Might. Ochako, when she asks what happens later, watches Izuku cringe into himself with guilt and mutter that he miscalculated.

She doesn’t ask again. They’re safe. That’s enough.

* * *

She and Tokoyami start talking after the Sports Festival. He’s nice, if quiet, and doesn’t mind talking fashion with her. He’s very knowledgable about what cuts and colours go together. Shopping is a tad more fun, despite her budget.

* * *

Izuku hands her a ring, right before they leave for their work studies. She blushes like a tomato at first, because  _ what _ , but then he tries to explain, awkwardly, that it’s a family heirloom, meant for trusted people, and something involving Flames? He cuts himself off at that point, hastily saying that it should help with her Quirk, completely harmless, she doesn’t have to take it if she doesn’t want to.

She takes it. Something nags at her to, and he’s earnest, cringing away from it and her. She trusts him, even if she doesn’t completely understand.

 

(He explains in more detail, when they all come back, what it is, what Flames are, and his own legacy. There’s a more serious air to him, Todoroki-kun and Iida. She wonders how much of the news was true on Endeavor saving them from the Hero Killer.

She hugs Iida and tells Izuku he still has her. He looks ready to cry and smiles.)

* * *

There were hands on their throats, fingers just barely hovering above skin. One twitch, and they were dead. The villain from the USJ is rambling, going on about Stain and how the media is paying attention to him, how he doesn’t understand why, and Izuku is so  _ calm _ , she doesn’t understand how he isn’t shaking, teeth gritted and hands in his lap like her-

She can see out of the corner of her eyes his irises glowing like hot coals as he answers, voice flat and calm. She knows the feeling of his Flames, can recognise them flowing over her now, relaxing as the villain backs off incrementally. Izuku is a magnet, lulling you and pulling you in before he hooks or destroys you, and she’s never been more thankful for that mildly terrifying fact than she is now, feeling the villain back off and tell them not to follow.

They find a police officer, and then spend fifteen minutes in the bathroom as Izuku throws up into a toilet and wheezes curses and prayers.  

* * *

Hahahaha _ hA  _ wow did the summer retreat suck. But Katsuki is safe and Fumikage was pulled into their tiny club, and Ochako is sort of wondering who their last member is? Izuku had mentioned that there were seven types of Flame, and well, they’re missing their Rain. But he doesn’t have the ring, either?  _ Izuku, what are you hiding. _

The dorms are tense for a few days, everyone choosing sides, before Izuku finally breaks down and apologises to Kirishima. She has no idea what he says to him, but it smooths things over, and the redhead finally starts talking to them all again. It’s a relief. 

They prepare for the provisional exams, and it’s difficult, figuring out tactics and new moves that they might be able to show off, but they manage. All Might even shows up during training, which is cool! It’s nice to see that the man is okay, after… All that.

But then she notices the ring on a chain around his neck.

“Izuku, All Might is the Rain!?” 

Izuku chokes on his rice and puts his face in his hands. It doesn’t stop the five of them from interrogating him and finally hearing that yes, it happened some time before the beginning of the school year, and  _ can they please stop talking about it _ .

They don’t stop talking about it. Shouto mentions that this made more sense than his Dad Might pet theory, which sparks a  _ whole new  _ discussion.

* * *

There was a villain present during the provisional exams. Ochako doesn’t know how to feel about the fact they disguised themself as her.

….At least Izuku could tell it wasn’t her?

They’d gotten separated at a point, Ochako and Fumikage fighting off a crowd while Tenya and Izuku were caught by an ambush around some rubble. The villain had saved them and hyper-focused on Izuku, to the point where even Tenya was suspicious. Izuku had called them out, and, well.

The exam wasn’t put on hold, but it was a near thing. The rescue portion was tense throughout, and they had to stop Bakugou and Shouto from starting fights with the other competitors and their own rescues. Ochako managed to downgrade Bakugou to a gruff sneer instead of screaming, while Tenya apparently kept Shouto from setting someone on fire when they compared him to his father. She doesn’t really know what’s up with that, but she knows it isn’t good.

The fact they all got their licenses seems like a miracle after their post-exam interrogation, to be honest.

* * *

It feels… off? Separating for their internships? There’s no way they’re all suited for the same office, not at all, but it still feels off in some way. Like they should stay together. She supposes that’s what happens with a Set, you want to stick close.

Regardless, she splits off with Nejire-senpai while Izuku works with Nighteye, Shouto trudging to his father and Tenya his parents’ office. Fumikage goes off to Barn Owl’s office, and Bakugou, of all things, worms himself into working with Kirishima and Fat Gum.

They all manage, right up until they don’t. Izuku comes back from his internship tense and quiet, Bakugou and Kirishima are unusually grim, and Ochako herself is reeling from the sudden uptick in feuds between villains. Endeavor is more volatile than usual for some reason, and Barn Owl has seen a steep drop in petty crime despite the rise in villain visibility. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, nothing that indicates why, and they all puzzle over it, grit their teeth until Nighteye calls them in.

And then the three of them can’t talk about it at all, because they’re under a gag order until the raid is launched.

* * *

The raid… Ochako feels sick, slightly. Izuku and Bakugou explain, after it’s all said and done, what happened inside. Kirishima is lucky to be alive, all things considered, and Overhaul…

Overhaul knew who Izuku was, knew what the Flames and his ring meant. Held it over his head as the teen fought him, pondering whether or not this meant the Vongola was rising again, if the boy would be willing to help. The Vongola were always known for their distaste of outside forces having abilities, after all. Did he really want to do this, cross his Family’s legacy?

Izuku had blown up. Nighteye was now questioning him. Nothing’s going well, really. 

Ochako can only really lend him a shoulder, act as if nothing’s wrong to keep his mood up. Eri is safe, and they can console themselves with that for now.

* * *

* * *

Fumikage is a quiet person. Doesn’t make friends easily, thanks to how he’s labelled a chuunibyou and has a liking for flare and dramatics. He comes to Yuuei and doesn’t expect many to associate with him, much less want to.

Inexplicably, he’s proven wrong. Shoji approaches him after their battle simulation after they’re pitted up against each other, talking about how he’d used Dark Shadow, and they strike up conversation as they head to the train station. Tsuyu talks to him some point before the USJ, asking how he takes care of his feathers, and Jirou and him end up striking up a debate over the best American metal band. Midoriya gushes over his Quirk right before the Sports Festival and ends up dragging him to the lunch table the taller teen, Iida, Uraraka, and Bakugou have taken, filling the lunch break with his chatter.

He has friends outside his neighborhood. It’s surreal, but he supposes it isn’t a bad thing.

* * *

Midoriya asks him to join their horse during the Sports Festival. He’s mildly surprised that the boy has thought through strategy so quickly, but he’s made a smart choice. Dark Shadow makes for a good defense in the sun as they are. They slog through the battle, and just barely make it into the final third, but Midoriya’s grin when he holds up the 600 pointer headband is worth it.

He manages third place, Todoroki in second with Bakugou in first, and Midoriya congratulates him whole he tries to get Bakugou to stop looking like a smug asshole. Fumikage commends his efforts in trying and walks home with Uraraka-chan, trying to bring her spirits up.

* * *

The days seem to blur together until the incident, Fumikage spending afternoons with Uraraka-chan while Midoriya occasionally ropes him into activities, quietly talking to Mezo in the morning and watching Minoru be absolutely terrified of Midoriya. His work study goes well, Barn Owl providing key advice to controlling his Quirk. He adds flash bangs to his costume’s supplies and hopes he never has need of them.

During their finals, he pairs up with Tsuyu and manages to cuff Ectoplasm, earning them a pass. Midoriya and Bakugou- and whoever thought up that pairing clearly wasn’t thinking, Midoriya doesn’t temper Bakugou at all if they can use his anger- were one of the first to win, Todoroki and Yaoyorozu following quickly behind. When they appear at Recovery Girl’s tent to tend to the scrapes they managed to get battling, Midoriya’s already muttering away into a notebook he has,  _ somehow _ , Bakugou scowling next to him as they watch the screens.

“Tokoyami-kun, Tsuyu, congratulations! Although you want to work on your defense some, Tokoyami, and Tsuyu, you tend to wait too long-”

They let the words flow over them. Midoriya’s rambling is soothing, after that excitement.

All too soon, they’re gearing up for the trip, going to the mall and splintering as they run in different directions for different things. He leaves Midoriya with Uraraka, even when something itches at his senses and tells him not to.

An hour later, when they’re finally allowed to see them, he regrets his choice to leave. It sets a nervous tint to the trip, all of them high-strung, and it just feels like a natural progression when the villains  _ show up and start attacking _ .

Mezo is attacked, and then Dark Shadow is out of control and he doesn’t know what to do, can’t do anything except beg them to  _ go, run away before he kills his friends, do n’t stay please plea s e _

A beacon of orange bursts through the darkness, making Dark Shadow screech and pull back, a hand reaching and tugging him in, and Fumikage’s panting and shivering at the warmth, blinking at the molten orange of Midoriya’s eyes, the flame on his head he hasn’t seen since the Sports Festival. 

He wants to ask, but they don’t have time. And then they don’t have Bakugou, and they’ve all  _ failed _ .

* * *

Midoriya carefully explains, as the others bustle around them in a way that seems more coordinated than usual, what Flames are. A direct manifestation of will, given form. Most people can’t access them, and they don’t exist in the eyes of ninety-percent of the population. The other two-percent are criminals and hardened civilians.

He asks which of those Midoriya is, and the green-haired boy makes what could be a smile and says it’s vague, with his family. 

The bottom line of it, though, is that his and Fumikage’s reacted, connected, and now there’s a… symbiotic link, between them. There’s one between Midoriya and the others as well, along with Bakugou. He can break it if Fumikage wants, he’s pretty sure, but he doesn’t know what the consequences are. No one expected him to have to know.

Fumikage remembers warm hands, a face that demands they don’t give up, not once, and holds out his hand for the ring Izuku had showed him. He looks half-stunned, as if he had expected Fumikage to refuse, and he wonders if the boy isn’t aware of his own pull, the fact he managed to draw in people with the most varied personalities he’s ever seen without trying. Fumikage’s known since the Sports Festival that there was something to the green-haired boy. This just solidifies it.

* * *

Before the Provisional Exam, they agree on one thing, the six of them. No matter what, they’ll keep one of the others close. It’s not a matter of reigning each other in- although it is a little, when it comes to Bakugou and Todoroki- as it is ensuring they have an advantage. Thanks to these threads that tie them all together, they know instinctively how to move around each other, dancing as though it’s been years instead of a few months. Staying together is only advantageous.

It proves to be a good idea when a villain sneaks in and targets Izuku. They don’t know the reasoning or goal of it all, only that one of the other school’s students is now missing and they’re left trying to keep their distance as they target students en masse and slowly collect their points. During the intermission, the officials blanch at the fact one of the League had snuck in, and there’s a whispered debate among the three present, the professional heroes watching on eventually being pulled in. It’s decided that they won’t halt it, it’ll draw too much attention; instead, they’ll increase security, keep an eye out for the girl.

Fumikage is skeptical that it’ll do much. The others seem to agree, although Iida is less so, saying they should trust the officials. Bakugou spits at him and hisses that they should have been there.

Beyond that, things go… smoothly? There’s some bumps during rescue where the more volatile of their group need to be smacked into compliance, but it goes well. They receive their licenses, enjoy the infuriated expression on Monoma’s face, and prepare for their internships.

When they’re pitted against the Big Three, the six of them stay back, following Izuku’s lead, and it’s instinctual to defend with Dark Shadow and Todoroki, Bakugou and Izuku taking up offense while Ochako-chan and Iida take the vanguard and call out any possible movements. They’re still taken out quickly, but Izuku manages to land a few hits, surprising Togata with his agility.

“Aha, that was some good maneuvering! Are you six planning to be a team when you graduate?” They blink and look between each other.

Are they?

* * *

The internships feel… off. Fumikage sees it echoed in the others’ faces, the thought of separating rubbing them wrong in ways they wouldn’t have noticed before. But there’s no way to build their skills and their names if they don’t do this, so they go ahead.

Barn Owl is most suited for night work, using their wings and their thermal vision to scope out the area from the skies, coordinating their sidekicks to take care of anything suspect they see. Fumikage has been learning how to free run when it comes to keeping up, as well as harnessing better control on Dark Shadow.

There’s barely anything to be found, compared to his work study. It’s eerie, how quiet the streets are, the little they find first-time offenders or unstable. When he mentions this to the others, Ochako-chan brings up the villain feud the Ryukyu group had to stop, and Bakugou rants about some criminal who shot himself up with enhancers. Endeavor, going by Todoroki’s word, is practically spitting acid with how tense he is, but the man won’t reveal why. Izuku is noticeably silent on his own internship.

Then Ochako, Izuku, Kirishima, and Bakugou disappear for days and come back to the dormitories quiet, Kirishima swathed in bandages and Bakugou with new scars along his arms. Izuku’s eyes, Fumikage notices with startling clarity, are a dark green, a shade lighter than his hair. He’s never seen them anything but a soft orange, glowing when he’s determined.

Just what happened?

* * *

They corner the others on one of the rare days they’re all free. Izuku looks like he expected this, while Ochako shrinks away and Bakugou stares defiantly. It’s Iida who takes up the task of getting their answers, asking what happened, why they’ve been distant.

“We were involved in the raid on the yakuza family that was in the news.” Izuku’s eyes shift away, a grimace sliding onto his face. “It didn’t go well.”

“‘Not going well’ is enough to make your eyes fade and Bakugou shut up for more than an hour?” Todoroki, the voice of reason. Bakugou growls, stepping into the two-toned boy’s space.

“It’s not that fucking simple, half ‘n half- would you have liked it if someone shoved it in your fucking face that you’re related to that walking shitsack?”

“I deal with it everyday, so not much.” Todoroki’s eyes slide to Izuku, piercing. “They brought up the Vongola?”

Izuku nods. Oh. No reason they were all off-balance. 

“I mean, besides- besides almost dying at multiple points and seeing the enemy turn himself into a literal abomination, yeah. He, he knew about the Vongola, knew what they used. Accused me of,” Izuku swallows, breaking off, and Fumikage put a hand on his arm, shaking his head.

“You do not need to speak if it is too difficult.”

“No, I- I want to. At least you all will believe me.” Izuku smiles bitterly, and it’s a stark contrast to the normally sunny boy. “He accused me of worming my way into hero work to tear it down, acting like some- some miniature All for One. Because of how the Vongola used to operate. And Nighteye heard it all, and of course he would question what Chisaki meant. But why would he believe that one of the largest hero networks in the world used to be involved in the criminal underground? Especially when I’m just an usurper barging in where he doesn’t belong.”

They sit in silence as they digest that.

“That is incredibly stupid,” Iida finally says. Dark Shadow chitters in agreement as the tall teen scowls. “One cannot disregard information simply due to prejudices. That endangers citizens and heroes alike.”

“Plus, it’s not like you don’t have a good enough track record to be considered trustworthy; anyone who looks at your file knows what happened with the Hero Killer and Shigaraki.” Todoroki points out.

Izuku finally smiles, less bitter than before, and chuckles, rubbing a hand over his face. “No, I know, I’m not- doubting myself, or anything. It’s just… My family fought for years to escape this legacy, and it’s still following me. I wish it wasn’t, that these Flames weren’t so tainted by the past.” Fumikage cocks his head, considering the familiar words. Todoroki has said much the same, when speaking of his family.

“Why not change it, then? Mould the legacy into something to take pride in. There is no reason for Flames to keep their criminal connotations if they are used for heroics.”

Izuku stares at him. “What- make them public knowledge?”

“We all use them. They will come to light eventually, when people notice that six different students tend to burst into fire when battles are particularly heated. Why not?”

They all look between each other, the idea glimmering in their eyes. Why not, indeed?


	4. Storm

Bakugou Katsuki is exactly like his mother, with less tact. Bakugou Katsuki does not have much in the way of friends.

Most everyone looks at his Quirk and decides he’s going to be someone to follow, look up to, and praise him for the littlest things. His teachers ignore the violent outbursts he tends to have since “he has such a promising future, and it wouldn’t do any good to put it in danger”. His classmates yell that he’s cool, and that he’ll definitely be a hero when he’s older. No one sees him.

Correction.

Midoriya Izuku sees him. Sticks by his side despite constantly standing up to him, insists he’s Quirkless despite lighting up like a damn match, says he loves him when it’s quiet and the roar of his thoughts is drowning Katsuki. Isn’t angry or hurt when Katsuki gets angry and destroys something, sends the others running. He looks patient when it happens, and tells Katsuki that he’ll always be his friend, no matter what, and that they’ll be heroes together someday.

Katsuki is terrified and pulled in by the power in Deku’s eyes.

* * *

He tries to beat Deku down. It’s an instinctual response, something telling him to challenge and push until the boy snaps, although he doesn’t know  _ how  _ he will, just that it will happen eventually.

So he pushes, sends the other boy tumbling, tells the others not to associate with him, that his name is Deku now, that he’s lesser than them because he doesn’t have a real Quirk. Watches the teachers observe and never interfere, watches adults brush it off as something to ignore. He feels sick, angry, but he doesn’t stop.

Deku doesn’t bend. He stands tall when he defends others, purses his lips when Katsuki insults him or one of the others mocks him. Something quails in Katsuki’s chest at it, and his behaviour slowly stops including the others. It’s down to just the two of them, their mothers attempting to salvage the situation. They see it as Izuku and Katsuki fighting, Katsuki being arrogant over having a Quirk where Deku doesn’t.

It’s not, but he doesn’t know how to explain the real reason. He’s only seven.

* * *

Katsuki stops trying to bully Deku when the other boy saves them from monsters in human skin.

They’re walking back from school, going in the same direction and not talking because a teacher had looked away again when Katsuki had exploded and it made him angrier, yelling at anyone within reach, when hands grab them, covering their mouths and making it so they can’t scream out. Raspy, deep voices are talking as they’re hauled off, legs restricted by whatever else is holding them- tails, ropes? He doesn’t know, god,  _ shit _

And he’s scared, because he hears one of them mention  _ buyers _ , the  _ Good Doctor _ , and he has no idea who that is but he’s  _ scared  _ he doesn’t want to be taken away, no nonono _ no _

And Deku bursts into flame next to him.

The thugs scream, drop him, can’t do anything as the flames grow and surround them, shielding them as Deku grabs his arm and they haul ass all the way to his apartment, going through the more populated streets. They’re breathing heavily, Deku’s flames disappearing and Katsuki’s bent in half trying to calm his heart.

He finally looks over at Deku, half-grateful and half-resentful at him saving them, but the other’s face is red, terrified, and his breaths aren’t slowing down, only coming in quicker and quicker gasps. There’s tears in his eyes.

Katsuki calms him down as quietly as he can so Aunty doesn’t come outside and see. There’s a hot coal in his chest, and he’s silent the whole time. When Deku is finally just crying, rubbing at the tears running down his face, Katsuki looks at him. Just looks at him, doesn’t let his thoughts run wild or his emotions take over.

Deku isn’t the calm in the storm. He isn’t big, or strong, or charismatic really, beyond being nice to everyone. Katsuki has the feeling he doesn’t need to be, and that that’s enough, for him.

They go inside and silently agree to pretend nothing happened. Izuku’s tear-tracked face is excused by them being too rough, and Katsuki’s quiet is him being tired for once. Everything is fine.

 

(He softens his actions towards Izuku, and doesn’t say a word. Izuku seems to pick up on it anyways, giving him bright smiles and grabbing his hand when they walk together. Katsuki ignores the coal in his chest and the fire in his face whenever it happens.)

* * *

Izuku’s dream doesn’t seem so far away, some days. He’ll look into the other boy’s increasingly orange eyes and see determination there, a whole ocean of feeling and hidden power, and he knows that he could pull in thousands. It’s an instinctive knowledge, just like the fact that Katsuki will walk beside him when he does.

* * *

Izuku doesn’t give up on his dream to be a hero. His record says he’s Quirkless with a harmless mutative abnormality in his eyes and base temperature, and the teachers take this to mean that he can’t do anything. They try to dissuade him from heroics, push him into science or politics since he seems to have the tongue and mind needed for both, backhandedly insult him and every other Quirkless kid out there.

Katsuki tries very, very hard to fight the urge to set their faces on fire. He manages for all but their sixth year counselor, who Izuku reports as telling him that he needs to grow up before he disappoints his family and himself. Aunty is one of the most supportive people Katsuki has ever met, and he knows Izuku could never disappoint her.

The counselor’s desk and files make a good substitute for his face. His mother is called in, and she yells at the man until he’s cowering behind the remains.

When they walk home, going to Katsuki’s house as is routine, he looks over to the smaller boy, makes sure he’s looking back.

“They’re all fucking idiots,” He says solemnly, staring into the flickering green, “You know that, right? We’re gonna be the best heroes to come out of that shitty school.”

“I know, Kacchan.”

“Do you?” 

Izuku glances at him, and the orange of his eyes solidifies, brightens as he smiles.

“Yeah, I do.”

* * *

Izuku’s grandmother is strange, intimidating and looming. She stares Katsuki down when he first comes over while she’s there, doesn’t react when he yells at her and barely stays polite. She only smiles bemusedly and ruffles his hair, ignoring the screeching it causes.

“You’ve got a good friend here, Izukkun. Make sure you keep him grounded.”

Izuku won’t tell him what she means when they go to his room, and Katsuki accidentally sets an explosion off when he slaps his arm. He’s guilty, feels horrible for it despite doing it constantly to other kids, and doesn’t touch the green-haired boy for the rest of the day.

* * *

They begin to spar. It’s an offhand thing, an idea that Izuku takes and runs with. If he doesn’t have a Quirk to rely on- bullshit, Katsuki’s seen him burst into flames multiple times- then he needs something else to fall back on. In his case, that means his sheer nerdiness and strength. So they spar, and Izuku begins to jog in the morning with him, and they generally do things they didn’t a month ago and regret living after going a straight kilometre without slowing.

By the second month, they both have definition that wasn’t there before. It’s progress.

* * *

Sometimes, Katsuki will catch sight of himself in the mirror or a window, and his eyes will  _ glow,  _ shifting from their fire red to a deeper thing, the colour of blood reflecting back at him. Sometimes, his explosions will be tinted pink and crimson, and he’ll be left puzzling over how he’s done considerably more damage than he meant to in the aftermath.

He adapts. It’s not something to worry over. Right now, he needs to focus on preparing them for Yuuei.

* * *

Izuku is hiding something. He isn’t making any effort to actually hide that he’s being  _ fucking suspicious _ , disappearing for hours at a time almost every day, but the reason behind it- yeah, that’s as clear as a goddamn brick. He dodges the subject when Katsuki brings it up, baits him into a spar instead of talking or points out some stupid shit that recently happened. It’s a tactic that works well, since what he points out tends to be spectacularly bad, like someone ripping hands off corpses or Endeavor holding a PR event.

Katsuki follows him one night, all the way down to the beach that’s become practically a dumping site for the surrounding prefecture. Izuku hurries down the sand, stopping in front of a tall, thin figure as he gestures wildly, and Katsuki watches with narrowed eyes. The fuck is going on?

Shit, is it like, a predator? Is Izuku gonna end up on one of those To Catch a Predator shows because he was a fucking idiot and was too friendly to the wrong person? Does Katsuki need to break it up with fire and screaming? He will, he swears to every god in the heavens.

But, no, the most that happens is the figure- a man, maybe? He can’t fucking tell- pats Izuku on the head and watches as the teen goes over and starts pushing a washer machine. Katsuki sort of. Stares. Glances at the area around them that’s oddly empty and realises what must be happening.

Izuku is cleaning the beach, metre by metre. More importantly, he’s  _ training _ , has to be to do something like this, like Katsuki himself is doing at the gym when they aren’t together. Except instead of being a normal person, he decided to haul old furniture across a beach and onto a truck instead of getting a membership.

Who the hell is the man, then? His teacher? Trainer?

When he confronts Izuku about it, the teen stutters out that Yagi-san is a retired hero, and could he not spread it around? He doesn’t want his mother knowing unless it actually pays off. When he starts to get angry, Izuku straightens out, gets that gleam in his eye that Katsuki usually doesn’t see, and says he’s handling it, that nothing’s wrong.

Katsuki backs off.

* * *

Katsuki should not have backed off.

Izuku apparently almost broke his fucking arms during the exam. It’s what he gleans from the bubbly chick talking at him when he emerges, going on about his Quirk and how it must be so cool to have super strength.

_ What fucking super strength. _

His hackles are raised the whole time to the train station except they’re not, the girl pinging as safe and trusted in his radar despite being a total stranger. It leaves him silent and glaring as the two tiny teens chatter.

He corners Izuku when they’re finally home, parents in the living room and flapping their lips about unimportant bullshit. He pulls the teen close, snarling.

“I know what your fucking Quirk is, Izuku, and it isn’t some shitty strength augmentation. What the fuck did you  _ do _ ?” Izuku stares at him for a long time, orange eyes dipping in and out of glow, before closing his eyes and wrinkling his brow.

Katsuki doesn’t jump back when his head lights up in orange fire, but it’s a near thing. His gut’s telling him it isn’t dangerous, though, so he only narrows his eyes as Izuku smiles sheepishly.

“It’s not really a, uhm, Quirk, is the thing, Kacchan. It’s- it’s been around longer than them?”

Katsuki tells him to sit on the damn bed and explain. Izuku explains. It’s a long, twisted thing, caught up in willpower and yakuza and Izuku’s grandmother, and what Katsuki eventually gets from it is that they’re all magical and life is fucking weird, and Izuku’s family is secretly badass, not that he’ll ever say it out loud. Izuku says activating his so early delayed his Quirk, but he does that nose twitch of his that says he’s lying; lucky for him, Katsuki isn’t going to push after getting all this information already.

Instead, he demands that Izuku help him activate his own.

* * *

Activating his Flames is stupidly easy. Izuku has him meditate first, which, fucking ew, but once he’s centered, he reaches down into his core like the teen said, focusing on his will and determination and  _ pulling _

And then he’s blinking, staring at Izuku as the boy leans back with raised brows. “Wow, that was fast.”

“Did you expect me to take forever or something?” Izuku shrugs.

“It took me a while. But I was also like, five, so, you know. Grain of salt.” He squints at the blond, before reaching out and rubbing at a hand. It comes back a quickly-fading red. “...I think it’s in your sweat? Did it- did it  _ fuse with your Quirk? _ ”

They both stare down at his palms. Huh. 

* * *

He’s Izuku’s Storm. The first of his elements, strongest bond of the three he has now. There’s the girl from the exam, as well as Yagi-san apparently, and three more empty slots waiting to be filled. He’d be angry, possessive, but they’re just as much his as they Midoriya’s, and he was here  _ first _ . He’s been here for  _ years _ , and they can’t top that.

Izuku doesn’t think he’ll find the rest, but the idiot obviously hasn’t seen himself when he interacts with other people. It’s like watching a building collapse in slow motion.

* * *

The first week they attend Yuuei, Katsuki watches with mild interest as Izuku takes aside the midget that’s been leering at the girls whenever they go to the locker rooms. He can’t hear what Izuku’s saying, across the room as he is, but it makes Mineta blanch and start shaking, mouth hanging open as Izuku smiles beatifically.

That’ll be a lesson that will be fun to see these extras learn- you don’t fuck with Izuku unless you want to be faced with that baby-eating smile.

* * *

The baby-eating smile makes its reappearance when they’re ambushed by villains at USJ. Katsuki catches sight of it when they finally make it back to the main plaza, watching Izuku practically flambe the fucking frankenstein freak the villains brought along, Flames racing across its skin in shockwaves as it screams. He’s sort of wondering at this point why no one seems to think the green-haired kid’s Quirk is something flame-based, but it’s also not as important as bashing in the pale shithead’s face in.

He doesn’t manage to, but All Might does show up, practically dousing them all in  _ familiar  _ Flames, which means he doesn’t really need to feel  _ that  _ bad. Even if he would have liked to rip open that fucker for threatening them all. Izuku does second-best at least.

Later, after Recovery Girl clears his dumbass Sky and sends him off to recover at home, Katsuki corners on his way home from the station.

“Why the fuck does All Might’s Flames feel like Yagi’s?” Izuku stares at him. “You hung off him for nine months, I’d recognise that walking stick’s Flames anywhere.”

Izuku makes a noise like a dying cat and pulls him into the house. He sleeps over that night because it’s too dark once Katsuki stops screaming and burning the carpet.

* * *

He doesn’t approach the man outside of class, doesn’t give so much as a hint that he knows. He’s not an idiot. He knows the dangers.

It doesn’t mean he can’t wish he could ask the man what the fuck he was thinking giving Izuku a Quirk. The boy jumped into a  _ hostage situation _ , he is a walking  _ hot mess _ , and giving him that much power is asking for trouble.

* * *

Katsuki stares at the ring on his finger. Silver, with an unidentifiable stone inlaid into it. The rock is carved with shells and a cyclone, visible when the light hits it correctly. It’s hidden when he wears his costume, covered by his gloves.

It’s hard to imagine such a little thing causing so much trouble. He supposes it fits with the scheme of his life.

* * *

_ He leaves for one week. What in the absolute, gibbering fuck, Izuku _ .

Katsuki stares at Iida. The woebegotten Inigo-Montoya-acting fucker stares back resolutely.

“No.”

“Kacchan, it’s already there, I can’t exactly get rid of the bond.” He glares at Izuku, jabbing a finger at Half n Half and Montoya.

“ _ No _ . It was bad enough when you involved Roundface and you-know-who, these two fuckers are crossing a line.” Izuku gives him a patient look, and Katsuki bristles, knows it’s the one he uses when he’s prepared to wait something out for days. “ _ No!” _

Katsuki seethes as they end up in a diner an hour later squabbling over the menu. Fucking  _ Izuku _ .

* * *

 

He looks at Kirishima and Kaminari blankly, one day. They’re talking, laughing about some outburst Katsuki had had the other day during training. They’re laughing. Honest guffaws as they mock Sero’s yells while the brunet complains.

He’s pretty sure the only one to do that before Izuku was his mom. Everyone else was too scared. He actually catches the green-haired teen’s eye from the other side of the classroom and watches him smile, waving a hand.

“Oi, earth to Bakugou! What are you thinkin’ of, man?” He shoves Kirishima’s hand out of his face, scowling.

“None of your business, Shitty Hair.”

* * *

Someone makes the mistake of assuming his hostility and Izuku’s tendency to overthink are issues to work past,  _ problems. _ That his aggression is a real thing when pointed at Izuku, that they’ll act the same way in a combat situation as they do in casual life.

Obviously, they haven’t paid enough attention to the teens.

All Might is likely expecting a fighting duo, Bakugou screaming for leadership while Izuku gets caught up in his mumbling and planning. The man is focused on their hero worship and contrasts, but he seems to be forgetting his  _ own  _ bias against hurting his students. They take full advantage of it.

He faces a pair of well-oiled partners, Izuku falling back on his instincts as he lets Katsuki take mid-range, signalling possible movements and getting into Yagi’s personal space while he dodges; Katsuki in turn follows Izuku’s lead, letting him guide their attack instead of taking control. They’re both kitted with extra supplies, Katsuki carrying nitroglycerin tablets while Izuku has flash bangs. He doesn’t know  _ why  _ he has flash bangs, but he does, and they use both to distract the pro hero while they weave around him.

Izuku’s Will also pumping out at an exponential rate, slowing down the hero’s reactions, lulling him into a calmer state, and he doesn’t know it at all.Thanks to them, he’s just slow enough for the fist Izuku sends to his face and the cuffs Katsuki gets around one wrist to land, hanging off him like a limpet. They’re the first out, and sit in Recovery Girl’s tent to watch the others.

They’re all going on the retreat, one way or another. Now they just need to prepare.

* * *

Katsuki is considering putting a lead on Izuku and just not letting him wander off, after the mall incident. Only him,  _ only Izuku _ , would manage to sweet-talk a villain into leaving without killing anyone while he was a finger away from having his fucking throat disintegrated. At least Uraraka was with him, useless as she was for fighting.

The other two are tense as they look them over, Montoya-wannabe going into a lecture on how they handled it best they could and what to do next time while Half n Half silently hovers and eyes them for injuries. Katsuki slaps Izuku over the head and promises a world of pain if he keeps getting into these situations.

Izuku makes no promises.

* * *

Katsuki, the day before their summer retreat, hunts down All Might. He finds the pro hero walking to the staff lounge, carrying at a stack of papers. He looks up when he hears Katsuki, smiling broadly.

“Ah, Bakugou-kun, what can I do for you?”

“What the fuck are you getting Izuku into?”

All Might’s signature smile dims, twitches, before coming back full force. “What do you mean, young Bakugou? I haven’t-”

“I know about One for All, and your injury,” Katuski cut in impatiently, “And about you giving Izuku his Quirk. What I want to know is just  _ what _ target you’ve painted on his back, because the little shit is tight-lipped about it.”

All Might ushers him into the teacher’s lounge. Aizawa and Mic look up curiously at the hassle, brows raising when Yagi lets go of his form.

“Oi, All Might, there’s a student-”

“He knows. Midoriya-kun told him.” There’s a strained note in All Might’s voice, and Katsuki narrows his eyes, snarling.

“Izuku didn’t tell me  _ shit _ . I figured it out on my own after seeing you two on the beach every night and getting a feel of your-” He cuts himself off, remembering the others in the room. He waves a hand, letting the ring glimmer in the light, and can see the understanding flicker across Yagi’s face.

“Ah. I hadn’t considered that.” The blond sighed, sitting down on the couch with a groan. “In regards to your question, Bakugou-kun, it is… a long story.”

“I’ve got time.”

Katsuki learns about criminal cryptids that apparently aren’t and internalizes the fact one of the world’s worst villains is going to be after his Sky very soon in the future. He goes home in a daze.

Why didn’t Izuku  _ tell  _ him? Didn’t he trust him? Where the hell did those years of working together and actually communicating go?

* * *

(Izuku didn’t say anything because Izuku is only sixteen, and he’s terrified even as he’s determined. He doesn’t want to involve his friends or Set in this generation-spanning war. Unfortunately, All for One does not respect the wishes of teenaged boys.)

* * *

Their Set’s complete, and he’s out of that shitty bar, but All Might is finished. It isn’t obvious, no great transformation being revealed on television, but he knows from the grief on Izuku’s face, the careful way the Symbol of Peace held himself that it’s the end.

The press conference he holds a few days later seals the deal, and Katsuki scowls even as he prepares for the dinner Izuku is holding. Iida is already there when he shows up, and he shoves the bottle of sake his mother had gotten at Aunty, who smiles and hugs him. He endures it while glaring at Iida’s amused expression. Asshole.

The others show up in the next twenty minutes, Todoroki with sweets and a shifty look and Tokoyami and Uraraka arm in arm. The apartment is packed and warm with the body heat of eight people. The table is crowded, and he nearly elbows Todoroki in the side multiple times for getting too close. Uraraka keeps starting arguments, and Takara-basan won’t stop creeping everyone out on purpose to make them quiet down. In the middle of it, the doorbell rings, and Katsuki blinks lazily as Izuku jumps up.

“Ah- that’s him-” He watches Izuku haul himself up, hurrying to the door. There’s murmuring voices and the sound of wheezy laughter before he wanders back in, followed by a reluctant All Might. He blinks at the gaggle of teenagers that have frozen in various activities, and they blink back. Aunty makes a choked noise, but her face stays relatively calm.

“Why don’t you sit down, Yagi-san? There’s enough for everyone.”

All Might does. They all hover awkwardly, before Takara-obasan sighs, pointing her fork at Todoroki.

“A man’s pectorals are not strong enough to hold himself up with. Shit movie.”

Apparently, All Might is really into movies. Who would have figured. They spend the next hour as the table cools debating movie effects, and they all manage to forget that the man sitting among them is their teacher and the former number one. Briefly, Katsuki wonders if any of them realise that he’s also part of the Set, before deciding they don’t. He’s pretty sure Todoroki still thinks he’s Izuku’s father, actually.

They all make a ruckus and irritate Katsuki endlessly. It feels like coming home.

* * *

Tokoyami is surprisingly inoffensive, for being such a cringey weirdo. Katsuki revels in at least one of them being tolerable as they train and unnerve the rest of the class.

* * *

Kirishima is upset that the others went ahead with the rescue without him. Didn’t trust him, didn’t believe in him, thought he was weak, whatever. Katsuki doesn’t know the reasoning he’s got in his head. He just knows it’s fucking annoying seeing Izuku wilt like a flower because the other beam of cheeriness in the classroom refuses to even look at him.

Everyone’s choosing a side in it, too, the exhausting idiots. Some are saying it doesn’t matter who went while others say they could have at least involved the others, and a few are reprimanding them for going at all. Katsuki doesn’t really get the second group, considering that walking depression meme almost expelled the Set for doing it.

Regardless, it takes him cornering Kirishima and gritting out the bare basics of the situation- Izuku’s weird bond with them all, caused by his “Quirk”- before he’ll so much as let Izuku talk to him again. He’s not really angry, Kirishima admits, just upset. And, yeah, Katsuki can’t see the redhead actually getting mad over this. Hurt, sure, but it’s not like they didn’t accomplish what they set out to. Even if they did sort of break every unspoken code when it came to using Flames as civilians.

….Fuck, does he count as a civilian when it comes to this? What the hell do they call people in the know?

Izuku shrugs helplessly when he asks. Useless.

* * *

They get their licenses. The  _ incompetents _ running the shitshow manage to miss a  _ villain sneaking in _ .

He cannot fucking wait until they’re the one running things. 

* * *

He had many offers after the Sports Festival, and none of them happened to be Fat Gum. However, Katsuki will kill himself before he subjects himself to Best Jeanist again, and there’s experience to be found in Fat Gum’s office. He’s still in the top fifty ranking, and Kirishima damn near hits the ceiling when he says he’s thinking about the idea.

It still feels wrong. This isn’t like the work study, where there was a guarantee that he’d see everyone by the end of the week, where everyone was still only tied to Izuku and not making complicated lesser bonds. These internships mean chaotic schedules, conflicting meetups and abandoning of routine. The others understand it, get quiet whenever they confirm they’ve been accepted by the office they’re applying to. 

Katsuki’s taken to working out in the gym until he’s in danger of setting off chain explosions with his sweating. Iida’s ramped up his studying, Uraraka is more bubbly than usual, and Todoroki is baking of all things. 

They go in different directions at the train station, and Katsuki wonders at the definition of codependency.

* * *

The raid begins on a cold morning. Katsuki can see the beginnings of autumn around them, leaves falling from the trees. It’s a peaceful scene at odds with the fact they’re all out for blood.

Uraraka’s group is held up at the gates, and Nighteye and Fat Gum’s groups speed ahead. Amajiki holds off a trio, and they lose Togata as he races forward through the walls. Fat Gum, Kirishima, Lock Rock, it’s down to the Nighteye office and him by the end, because as much as it might be expected for him to stay with his own, Shitty Hair can handle himself while Izuku is a reckless fuck who dislocates arms making friends.

When they reach Overhaul, Togata is hunched over their target and bleeding, a vial sticking out of his back. There’s Nighteye, aggrieved and being torn at, then Izuku and Katsuki charging in like a whirlwind and taking the villain’s attention, Flames flaring because that’s how they work best now, and Chisaki takes one look at them, makes a derisive noise.

“European scum. I’m surprised you’ve come out of the woodwork after so many years. Did you become a hero to tear them down from the inside? Find more wealthy buyers? Whatever the reason, it doesn’t protect you.”

Katsuki’s vision goes red, and things fade out for a good while after that. He comes to as he holds down one of the lackeys, unconscious, with the girl cradled in his arms. He doesn’t know if he put her there, or if one of the others did. They’re outside, next to a giant hole, and he can see Izuku, a phoenix incarnate, screaming as he drowns Overhaul in his Flame.

“ _ I WILL NEVER BE LIKE THEM! _ ”

Katsuki is pulled under by the Will.

* * *

Nighteye questions them. Nighteye doesn’t believe them. Nighteye can suck a fat one.

* * *

The idea of working together with these shitheads- it’s an annoying one. Having to be near them constantly, share the spotlight, share  _ Izuku  _ forever, it has him gritting his teeth.

_ (The idea of working together with these idiots, staying close and staking his claim- it sings in his bones.) _

* * *

Izuku starts nudging the class into harnessing their Flames. He doesn’t make it obvious, doesn’t even so much as mention that the meditation and focus he introduces will actually do something, but he does it all the same. The others spread the idea to the teachers, Uraraka convincing Recovery Girl it’d help with stress and sleep while Iida brings it up to Mic, the whole thing spiralling from there. Todoroki and Tokoyami make a concerted effort to talk to the other Departments, since Half n Half can apparently use those rich boy skills to get people to talk to him and Tokoyami has friends in GE.

(Katsuki glares at that tired piece of shit from the Sports Festival. He only smirks back.)

Katsuki himself does what he does best and starts staging ambushes.

Kaminari screams the first time Katsuki sends him flying. Mineta faceplants and gets a nosebleed. Aoyama blows a hole in the wall. Kirishima and Ashido take in stride, and Katsuki is inordinately satisfied to see them goading the others into actually fighting back and being paranoid shits.

By the end of the month, Kirishima’s skin has a teal tint when he activates his Quirk, and Sero’s arms look like they’re shooting out Washi tape with how blue his tape is. Ashido’s acid is more orange than yellow.

 

The day before their winter break, they call a dorm meeting and sit everyone down. The staff are frowning, wondering why they’ve been involved, what's going on, Nedzu smiling on Aizawa’s shoulder, but the six of them ignore the group in favour of digging out their rings, fitting them on their hands if they’ve been hidden away. Katsuki stares down at his and tugs at the determination in his soul, the wrath and fury that guides him, lets it ring out and echo against others.

He grins when Ashido, Aoyama, Mic, Sato light up red. He grins when the twenty of them all light up, green and blue mixing with purple and yellow and the lone oranges that are Aizawa and Nedzu, and fights the urge to laugh when Izuku steps out, decorated hand held aloft as he stares Nedzu down.

“Maa, it seems you six had something important to share! Why don’t you explain?”

* * *

Lessons are silently slipped into Hero Studies after break.

They submit their Intent to Jointly Collaborate forms the day they finish filling them out.


	5. Rain

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (人´∀｀)．☆．。．:*･°

Midoriya Izuku’s eyes shine bright orange with resolve, and Toshinori sees a shadow of himself in the boy, echoes of that Quirkless boy who had caught Nana’s attention and kept it. He’s watched the boy risk his own life to save his friend, stand up to him when he said Quirkless can’t be heroes, watch with sympathy but not pity or revulsion when he revealed his injury. Something warm sits in his chest, and for the first time in five years, he feels strong as he offers One for All to the boy.

* * *

Training young Midoriya is… easy. The boy sticks to his schedule beyond asking to adjust some of it to include his friend, and doesn’t argue as long as Toshinori explains why he needs to do some of the exercises. He’s slowly but steadily clearing the beach, and it’s progress. In addition to that, the little interaction he’d had with the boy don’t prove to be isolated incidents, and Midoriya-kun proves to be a pleasant boy, polite yet excited each day.

He wonders if this small break at the end of the day is why he’s been feeling better these past few months.

* * *

There’s a presence watching them. It’s at the edges of his awareness, but Toshinori can feel the stare, the echo of something that he can’t identify. As Midoriya is pulling at a washer machine, he lets his eyes skim the shoreline and cliffs.

Ah, there. A small, blond figure off by the stairs. The face is familiar, and he finally places it with Bakugou-kun, the boy’s friend that had been in the hostage situation. They were particularly close, from how Midoriya spoke; it was no surprise he had followed his friend to make sure he was safe. Toshinori raises one hand in greeting, and can see the teen bristle from all the way down here. He stomps out of sight, leaving Toshinori more than a little amused. 

Teenagers.

* * *

Midoriya does  _ not  _ break every bone in his body during the Yuuei exams. Toshinori is pleasantly surprised and relieved, since it means the boy has a better handle on One for All than he thought, and Chiyo will have less reason to slap him upside the head in the coming years.

The boy catches him in a hug when they meet days before the start of term, and he’s left staggering, blinking down at the warm weight wrapped around his middle. He hesitantly hugs back, because that’s what one does in this sort of situation, right?

“Young Midoriya-?”

“Sorry- sorry, Yagi-san, it’s just- this is a dream come true!” The boy detaches himself from Toshi, grinning and blushing. “ _ I got into Yuuei! _ ”

Toshinori smiles gently, ruffling green hair. “I told you, didn’t I? And you even managed to use One for All! I’m proud of you, my boy.”

The boy’s eyes water again, and Toshinori huffs in amusement, letting him go in for another hug. Really now, the waterworks just never seemed to end.

* * *

The other staff treat him with a mix of admiration and wariness, which is… to be expected, he supposes. They aren’t fanatic, which is more than can be said about the vast majority of people he meets. Aizawa-kun even criticizes him to his face! The only people to do that before now were Kenichi and Nedzu! It is, weirdly enough, a breath of fresh air.

As he bursts into 1-A, he has a feeling that this won’t be such a dreadful experience.

* * *

“You need to take care of yourself, my boy.” Midoriya-kun hunches over at his words, pouting at his bento, and Toshinori has to fight the urge to snort. “Not eating well enough will affect your training, and how well you do as a hero.”

“I  _ know  _ that, it’s just hard to focus when there’s so much to talk about, being near actual heroes for the first time, learning Foundations and law along our normal subjects…” The boy trails off into mutters, but Toshinori gets the gist of it. Hassled high schooler. He remembers the feeling, although his troubles were more because he had no idea how to take care of himself.

It makes him glad he’s there to nudge the boy. He’d started bringing a pair of bento to school after hearing about the boy missing lunch one too many times, and while it had them both blushing to their roots, the boy was also  _ eating  _ to cover it, so. Win.

“Mou, it’s only the first month of school, and you’re already feeding students! People are gonna think you’re a mother hen, All Might!” Ah, right. The other teachers were still there. Toshi coughs into his tea, ignoring the heat in his face and Midnight’s grin. “Or maybe it’s only Midoriya-kun?”

He sees Midoriya sink into the cushion, staring at nothing, and winces. He tries not to seem biased, really, but… he knows he fails. The staff know it.  _ Class 1-A  _ knows it, with how they grin at young Midoriya whenever Toshinori pulls him aside.

It isn’t even for training, or advising that he does it, really. He does help the boy with things that may be troubling him, and advise him on any weaknesses in his form, but the majority of their time is spent quietly occupying the same space, Midoriya talking about whatever stunt Bakugou-kun and Uraraka-chan have pulled recently or how his mother is doing. Having the boy nearby settles something in him, looking after him doubly so. There’s little cushioning on him, signs of him running himself into the ground, and he’s a reckless little shit besides, so Toshinori’s taken to keeping an eye on him. 

It’s ended up with him putting on weight for the first time in years and sleeping better, so it’s not like it’s a bad thing.

“He’s my student. Isn’t it normal for me to make sure he takes care of himself?” He finally says, and he knows by Kayama’s amused look that she doesn’t believe him at all. But she drops the subject, so all’s well.

* * *

There are moments, sometimes, where he swears he sees fire swirling around Midoriya as the students train. He writes it off as a trick of the eyes, Bakugou-kun or Todoroki-kun standing too close.

* * *

Iida-kun comes running onto campus. All Might goes running off it.

He arrives just in time to see his students back away from a screaming monstrosity, to catch sight of Aizawa on the ground unconscious in a pool of his own blood. Something in him snaps at seeing Izuku cower from the monstrosity, staring at it in horror as it screams, and he’s more vicious than he’s been in decades. These villains decided to attack  _ his _ , and he’s going to ensure they regret it wholeheartedly.

The Noumu meets him beat for beat, digs into his scar, and his breath is taken away in a gasp, leaving him cringing and cursing as his students are forced to save him. He takes down the beast to the best of his ability, but his best is  _ weak _ ,  _ he  _ is weak, and at this rate he won’t be able to save them, won’t protect them, as the ringleader comes closer with a hand outstretched-

Izuku jumps in, and Toshinori almost screams. Shigaraki does instead, yanking away from the glowing hand that had clamped around his wrist and lurching away. It’s just in time, as well, because not a second later the faculty are there, ready for battle and dangerous. Toshinori almost collapses with relief.

He really does collapse when Ishiyama throws up a wall of concrete. There’s only darkness and the fuzziness that comes with unconsciousness for a long while until he blinks awake in the infirmary, Chiyo hovering over him and clicking her tongue. From what she tells him between bouts of reprimand, Thirteen and Aizawa are out of surgery, which is good, but Izuku is also in the infirmary, which is significantly less good. The boy managed to break his arm at some point, and there were multiple signs of exhaustion besides that. He’s the only one still under, at this point.

He’s still in his bed, and it’s unnerving, compared to how full of life he usually is. Naomasa smiles when he catches one of his glances, but the man isn’t about to say anything. He was one of the only ones Toshinori told about Izuku, and he knows just how much the blond’s poured into the teen over the past year.

When Izuku- when young Midoriya wakes, it’s a one-two snap, asleep one second and lurching up the next. It’s a skill he only sees in seasoned heroes, and to see it in someone so young is… Worrying. His eyes (green, why are they green?) drift around the room, taking everything in, before they land on the three adults and blink. 

He hesitates for a long moment, eyeing Naomasa with trepidation before turning to Chiyo. “...Everyone’s alright?”

“Besides you two and the other teachers, yes.” She sends him an unimpressed look. “I don’t know what you did, young man, but the next time you exhaust yourself like that, you’ll be in a world of trouble. There’s only so much the body can handle.” Izuku winces but nods, smiling when the woman huffs and hands him some gummies. His gaze strays to Toshinori, and his expression turns downward, worry painting it.

“Ah, I’m fine, Midoriya-kun, nothing some time won’t help,” He’s quick to assure, “So please don’t look like that.” The boy is unconvinced. Toshinori hurries to change the subject and introduces Naomasa, letting him take the lead.

When the teenager finally leaves, Iida-kun audible in the hallway, Chiyo turns back to her desk, muttering.

“What is it?”

“I need to update his file; it has iris-pupil and base temperature mutations listed, but nothing about his skin. His face and extremities have significantly thicker layers of skin than a baseline human. Going by his parents, it’s likely a heat-based adaptation.” 

Toshinori hums, but brushes off the fact. Mutations unrelated to Quirks were common these days; it’s unsurprising the boy has some.

* * *

The first few days back to normal classes, he takes to watching the students. It’s… He knows they’re all right, obviously, but there’s a paranoia that’s set in. It unnerves him.

He takes to dropping in on their conversations during Foundational studies, talking as he adjusts their stances or advises against this or that technique.Uraraka-chan will gush over the stray cat that’s been hovering near her apartments, Iida-kun will ask about this or that lesson. 

If he hovers around Midoriya, Mineta, and Asui particularly frequently, it’s no one’s business but his own.

* * *

A few days before the Sports Festival, he calls Kenichi. He knows his old teacher watches the event every year, spending it cursing out any particularly nasty contestants and cheering on others. He knows the man will be watching when Midoriya stands front and center, and wants him to be prepared.

(He also wants to lessen the amount of yelling he’ll be listening to, but. You know. Priorities.)

“I found a successor,” He says without preamble the moment the receiver connects. There’s a moment of silence, before a long, drawn out groan comes from the other side.

“ _ What in the hell are you even doin’ anymore, boy? How  _ **_long_ ** _ have you had a successor? _ ” He pointedly doesn’t answer. “ **_Toshinori_ ** .”

“About a year…?” 

“ _ AN’ YOU’RE JUST NOW TELLIN’ ME?” _

“I was busy training him! For all I knew, he wouldn’t be able to handle it!” Gran Torino spends a good five minutes cursing him out and calling him about ten different synonyms for stupid, before sighing.  
“... _What’s he like?”_

Toshinori gives the question the due consideration it deserves. “He is… Like me, when I was younger. But with more of a pull, I think. You listen to him, and he simply draws you in.”

“ _ Hmmph. We’ll see _ .”

* * *

Toshinori eyes Todoroki-kun and the sense of satisfaction that’s been wafting off him since the two sat down. Midoriya and the other boy had appeared abruptly during the break, his successor asking if they could sit here during the matches.

Down below, the green-haired teen was facing off in his first match, against a General Education student who seemed… especially bitter. From what little he could hear this close, the boy had been ostracized for his Quirk from about the moment it presented. The bitterness in his voice as he yelled has Toshinori grimacing, but the fact the boy still wants to be a hero after all that was admirable. Perhaps Aizawa was right, in that the entrance exam needed to be adjusted…

He winces as Midoriya-kun tosses the boy out of bounds, dissatisfied expression on his face. No doubt Shinso’s words resonated with him. When he comes back up, he’s frowning, even as he wishes Todoroki-kun good luck.

“You did well, my boy.” Green eyes dart to him before returning to the arena, watching Sero-kun be swiftly taken out.

“...Shinso’s Quirk. People won’t view him as anything but a danger, with it. They’ll stay prejudiced even if he saves them from a burning building.” The blond winces again.

“I... don’t think it would be  _ that  _ bad, my boy. Once people saw he was a competent hero...” He trails off. Midoriya looks unconvinced, and he can’t blame him.

He remembers an amateur from a decade ago, who had been able to seal away people’s Quirks for a time, like Aizawa-kun; unlike Aizawa, however, they didn’t come back without a second activation of her own, and the idea of someone being able to permanently seal away another’s Quirk had… not gone over well with the public.

After a year of working under a less-than-notable agency, she quietly dropped out of heroics and joined the police force. Toshinori had watched her leave, and felt helpless.

“I’m going to change it.” He jumps, looking back over to young Midoriya. The boy’s eyes are like fire, a pull urging him to look and follow, pulling him in. The teen keeps eyes locked with him, unwavering. “A Quirk doesn’t make a person. And even if it takes shoving it in people’s faces, yelling until they listen, I’ll prove it.”

Toshinori swallows around the lump in his throat. “I have no doubt you will, my boy.”

* * *

He flexes his fingers, looking at the stark tendons. How had Midoriya put it?  _ It runs on emotion, and your will _ . He breathes out slowly, thinks about the determination to make the world a better place, the wish to see Izuku’s debut, to live happily as his teacher wanted. His hand lights up a soft cyan, flickering with orange occasionally, and he turns it over contemplatively.

How could something like this have been hidden for decades? Centuries, from the way Midoriya talked? He’d looked up Vongola, after the revelation in the infirmary, had found a history dotted in corporate takeover and hands dipping into every industry imaginable. There were rumours of corruption, people pointing out strange loopholes in contracts and odd locations chosen for headquarters, but it had lead nowhere thanks to the abrupt switch to a criminal regulation agency in the past century.

He wonders how much has been hidden away to avoid the memories of their past.

“All Might-sensei?” Toshinori hacks, bulking up just in time as Uraraka-chan pokes her head into the office. Her expression is worried, and his nonexistent stomach drops, worry setting in as he wonders if something is wrong with her, or one of the other students.

“Ah, what can I do for you, young Uraraka? Is everything alright?” She hesitates, looking back at something he can’t see.

“No, it’s, uhm… Something’s wrong with Izuku? But he won’t talk to us, so we thought you might have more luck…”  _ Ah, shit _ . He hurries to reassure the girl, managing to make her smile with a particularly bad pun even as he internally panics. Did something happen? He knows he likely worried the boy with his reaction to Gran Torino’s nomination, but it wasn’t like the man was going to eat him alive or something.

When he reaches the rest of the group, he finds them still in the classroom, despite it being lunch time. Todoroki-kun and Iida-kun are hovering, the taller boy attempting to talk to his friend while Todoroki watches with a careful eye. Bakugou is off against the wall, glaring at nothing, and narrows his eyes when Toshinori enters with Uraraka-chan.

Midoriya doesn’t look up once, despite the commotion. Toshinori hesitates, unsure what to do, before pointedly looking at the other students. Todoroki-kun catches on the quickest, dragging Iida by the collar out of the room while Uraraka and Bakugou-kun follow. Kneeling before the boy’s desk, he can see that Midoriya’s face is much more pale than usual, freckles stark against his skin. His eyes are green and unfocused, and his hands are fiddling in his lap.

“Midoriya-kun?” No answer. “Midoriya. Izuku.” He reaches out and takes a hand, and that finally catches the boy’s attention, making him look up and blink. He startles at the sight of Toshinori, and that has him more worried than anything else, because the boy has an almost sixth sense when it comes to knowing where anyone is, especially the pro hero and his classmates. “What’s wrong?”

The boy stares and stares and stares, shaking under Toshi’s enormous paw, before finally whispering, “Giotto Sawada asked to see me.”

He has to fight the urge to barge into Nedzu’s office then and there and ask what the fuck he was thinking. He deliberately breathes in and out, keeps his eyes on Izuku.

(He doesn’t notice the blue brightening his eyes, shadows of this form turning ever so slightly navy, nor the slight relaxing in Izuku’s shoulders when it happens.)

“Did he threaten you? Say something that has you worried?” The teen pauses, shaking his head ever so slightly. Not a threat then, but something else that disturbed him. “…Offer you a position in the, er, family?”

Another pause, longer. “...He apologised, I think. Or tried to.” He looks down at his hands again, shivering. “I- what do I do with that? Him and his kind are the reason my grandmother was so  _ miserable _ , the reason we’ve had to hide for years. What am I supposed to-?” He breaks off. There’s something devastated in his expression, and that just. Won’t do.

He drags the boy into a hug. There’s a sob against his shoulder, and the sound of shushing out in the hallway, a rough voice hissing indistinctly. He lets go of his form when footsteps fade out from his hearing, closing his eyes as a hand rests in green hair.

Absolution can be a bitter pill.

 

(Later, he goes to Nedzu and passively aggressively demands to know why he let a world-renowned figure in the hero industry meet with his student out of the blue, with no reason. The mammal gives him a patient smile, and says  _ some issues are best sorted out in person, aren’t they? It’s not as though Midoriya-kun would be in danger, considering where they were. _

Toshinori respectfully disagrees. It took his student having an emotional breakdown for an hour to get back to some semblance of normality.

Nedzu points out he’s biased. _ All Guardians tend to be _ . Toshinori chokes on his tea and lets Nedzu’s chuckles wash over him.)

* * *

He visits the boys in the hospital. There’s an urge to make sure they’re alright, not too injured from their run-in with a  _ serial killer _ , dear lord, what the  _ fuck _ , he’d be having acid reflux right now if he still had a  _ stomach _ .

Izuku introduces him as his uncle again to Iida-kun, and the legacy student squints at him before nodding, bowing in greeting. Todoroki only raises a hand, watching him with a quirked head. They’re all covered in bandages, Iida having a particularly thick band around his arm while Izuku has one around his stomach, apparently, because no one in the Support Department thought to make his jumpsuit  _ knife-proof. _

_ He is going to be having  _ **_words_ ** _. _

“A-ah, you didn’t need to come all this way, Yagi-Yagi-ojisan. We’re okay, really.” Toshinori gives Izuku a patient look. The boy quiets and bites into his apple. He’d brought fruit, because fruit were always nice, and hospital food was truly disgusting. The other two were appreciative, if the banana and orange they took meant anything.

“Ah, Yagi-san, do you work at Yuuei? I believe I’ve seen you around the campus from time to time.” The blond hums, cursing his inattention.

“I’m All Might’s secretary; thanks to his position at Yuuei, I’m frequently on the grounds.”

“Ah, I see! That makes sense!” Iida-kun chews at an orange slice pensively, thinking. There’s a ring he doesn’t remember seeing before on his hand. It’s odd, the metal gleaming while the inlaid stone is dull. Now that he thinks of it, wasn’t Todoroki-kun wearing one as well? “What is it like, working for such a high-profile hero?”

He regales them with the horrors of paperwork, and forgets about the odd rings.

* * *

Izuku stops him when he mentions All for One, holds up a hand with a grim expression. “I already know. My grandmother told me.”

Toshinori stills. Ah. Yes, she’d likely know, considering what she delved into. But, that didn’t mean she knew the intimate details.

“I suppose I don’t need to explain who he is, then. But there is more to it than you know. Tell me, where do you think One for All came from, my boy?” Izuku’s brow furrows, before his face slackens with shock.

“You mean-”

“Yes.” He sips at his tea, sighing. “The original bearer of One for All was, in fact, All for One’s brother. He was given a strength stockpiling Quirk out of… pity, maybe, or misplaced generosity. I can’t say. At some point, when he realised he wouldn’t be able to stop his brother’s reign within his own lifetime, he passed it on along with his own Quirk, a passive one that let him transfer it to another. His goals are the reason I fight All for One to this day, and the reason for… For the deaths of those close to One for All’s wielders. All for One has made it his duty to destroy the lives of any of us who oppose him.”

Izuku is silent. He himself tries to keep the weight of dragging this boy into this off his shoulders. He doesn’t succeed.

“Yagi-san.” His eyebrows raise, and he gives Izuku his full attention. It’s rare that the boy uses his actual name, for all that he begged to know it all those months ago. The boy’s biting his lip, avoiding his eyes, but his irises are a glowing orange, an indicator he’s taken to interpreting as particularly decisive. Izuku reaches into his pocket, pulling out a small box. Inside is a ring, and Toshinori rolls it curiously in his hand when it’s handed over.

“What is this?”

“A promise.” His head jerks up. Izuku stares calmly back. “That I’ll do my best to take him down, and that you’ll be around to see it.”

Izuku knows. Guilt chokes Toshinori’s voice, and he silently slips on the band. It fits around his thumb. The hole in his side burns.

* * *

The afternoon of the final exams, after they’ve congratulated the class, Izuku approaches him and shyly invites him over for dinner. The Bakugous will be there along with him and his mother, he says, since they are nearly every celebration anyways, but it won’t be too loud, and he doesn’t need to feel obligated to come, really-

He agrees. Izuku’s mouth shuts with a click, and he mumbles that they’ll be eating around seven.

When he shows up to the apartment, he can hear yelling from the stairwell, and peaks his head around the corner to see what must be Bakugou-kun’s mother slapping him upside the head. The two are arguing at the top of their lungs while the Midoriyas tug them into the home. 

He can’t say he’s surprised, honestly.

When Izuku catches sight of him, he lights up, darting over from where he’d been threatening Bakugou-kun with duct tape. “Yagi-san! You made it! The food’s almost ready, come in!”

The Midoriya household is warm, photos of various heroes peppering the walls, with All Might most prolific. There’s one of him and Nighteye, taken a few months after they teamed up if he’s remembering right, and the image has him… nostalgic.

“Do you still talk to him?” He jumps, looking down. Inko-san is smiling, looking at the photograph. “He always seemed like a very serious man.”

“How- did Izuku-?” She shook her head.

“He told me about you being in his Set a few days after the Sports Festival. But I remembered him coming home with a new Element and showing me a selfie you two took, so… I connected the dots. You don’t have to worry about me spreading it around, I promise.” That... isn’t what he was actually worried about, but is nice to hear nonetheless. There’s a screech from the kitchen, and she pats his arm before hurrying off, batting Katsuki-kun with a spatula as she tries to salvage whatever he’s done.

The food, when they finally eat, is a strange smorgasboard, curry sitting next to tempura and what he thinks is actual pasta in tomato sauce. Bemusedly, he wonders where they found some that wasn’t just noodles as he scoops some onto his plate.

(Fondly, he wonders why Izuku bothered remembering that he mentioned missing it.)

Masaru-san and Mitsuki-san are lively, the wife moreso than the husband, and explain the research they put in at their labs gladly when asked. Apparently, they had met through their work, Mitsuki primarily focusing on products for variant skin and hair types while Masaru worked in neutralizing chemicals byproducts to make life easier; thanks to the overlap, they had been pulled in to work together at some point, and it had ended… explosively.

Inko-san’s husband also works in a lab from what she says, although his work is more geared towards anything that can adapt normal life to Quirks and their side-effects. 

“Ah, for example, people with electric-based Quirks tend to short out their electronics and home wiring. He helped figure out a lightweight insulation that can prevent that, adapting it into clothing.”

“Kaminari’s clothes are like that,” Katsuki-kun mutters, jabbing at a carrot. Toshinori eyes him. It’s eye-opening just how much these six’s lives revolve around these abilities. They look between each other when he points that out, more than one pursing their lips.

“I suppose… Well, I know Mitsuki and I loved watching heroes when we were younger, but, well, we knew we could never be like them.” Inko smiles ruefully. “I certainly didn’t  _ want _ to, with all the danger that comes with the lifestyle. But we could still help people, even if we weren’t running around in costumes.”

“Like you do, Yagi-san,” Izuku comments, and that has him quiet for the rest of the evening. 

Does he?

* * *

He doesn’t. That much is obvious from the students in the hospital, Katsuki-kun’s absence, and the school scrambling to appease the public. Mic is insisting there’s a spy in the school, the children are scared, and he’s so fucking  _ useless  _ that all he can do is plan with the others, can’t go busting in like he used to, can’t protect like he used to, can’t do  _ anything _ .

They find out the possible locations from Yaoyorozu-chan. He takes aside Yawara the evening of the operation and promises him they’ll find Tomoko. His old friend says that’s what he’s half-afraid of.

When they approach the bar, there’s something in his gut pulling tighter and tighter, an alarm telling him to stand at attention. The three bright spots in his mind hovering round the building make him think with dread that he knows what’s going on.

He rockets through the wall. Katsuki, Izuku, and Tokoyami-kun rocket out.  _ Shimura Tenko _ screams as his teacher pulls All Might away.

The battle with All for One is gruelling, both of them handicapped by their battle from so many years ago. He matches him beat for beat, using Quirks to slow him down or endanger others, taking his attention away. It infuriates him, more than the man bringing up Nana, more than him threatening Izuku, because how  _ dare  _ he, how  _ dare  _ he treat life like some- some  _ plaything _ .

This was the exact reason he hadn’t been against picking up One for All’s battles. If it meant taking down someone this reprehensible, he would deal with the death sentence it posed. 

* * *

The public cheer him on, and he’s standing tall, but he can feel that the moment he lets go of this form, it’ll be the end. He’s finished.

* * *

Izuku demands to see him, when he’s still in the hospital. The staff tried to restrict him, going by what Kenichi and Naomasa tell him, but the boy had pretended to agree before walking deeper into the hospital and immediately heading for his room.

Currently, he’s aggressively crying as he checks over Toshinori inch by inch, cataloguing every bruise and cut, grazing over his cast and the bandages on his forehead. Naomasa is covering his mouth by the window, because he at least has some respect for Toshinori, while Kenichi is wheezing by the door, because he is an asshole.

“You- you’re coming to dinner, once this is all done, and you’re eating as much as you can and relaxing or I swear to god, I will tie you to a fucking chair for a  _ week _ .”

“Is that the threat Katsuki-kun uses on you?”

“ _ Do you think I won’t do it?” _

He doesn’t answer.

(Yes. Izuku is mildly terrifying when angry, if only because he rarely is.)

* * *

Explaining the dorms go about as well as he predicted. The parents are as… unique as their children, Aoyama-kun’s family managing to rope him into promising to visit again thanks to Aoi’s guilt-tripping and Ashido-chan’s plying them with baked goods. No one is overtly angry beyond some posturing, and it’s… good, he supposes.

He goes into the Midoriya’s alone, because he feels it wouldn’t be appropriate, on some level, to have Aizawa-kun present for this.

He can hear raised voices before he even knocks, and it goes abruptly silent when he hesitantly does. There’s footsteps, before the door opens to reveal an elderly woman with pastel green hair. She blinks at him, leaning back.

“ _ Cristo _ , you’ve some strong Flames. I can see why Izuku bonded to you.” She holds out a hand, taking his firmly. “Shimizu Takara. I’m Izukkun’s grandmother.”

He hesitantly shakes it, and is subsequently pulled into the apartment. Inko-san is sitting at the dining table, a cup of… water, he hopes… sitting in front of her. Izuku is on the couch, peering at his phone. He glances up when he sees Toshinori, glaring at the cast and bandages still visible.

“You’re here about the dormitories, yes?” He looks at Inko-san in surprise. She looks worn out, staring at Toshinori. “The boys and Ochako-chan have been texting Izuku about it.”

“Er, yes. We want parental permission before we go ahead with it, hence the home visits.” She sighs, taking a sip from her glass.

“I don’t approve of this, with all the attacks that have occurred on school grounds or during school events. But I know it’ll hurt more than help if I say no.” Shimizu-san grunts.

“They’ll be surrounded by professional heroes.”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t worry, mother! Professional heroes being there didn’t stop the villains from putting Izuku in the hospital,  _ multiple times! _ ” He flinches at the reminder, glances over at the boy in question. Izuku is unreadable, watching the argument unfold.

“And he would have been in the morgue if it hadn’t been for their presence!”

“Inko-san, Shimizu-san,” He breaks in, because their voices are raising, “I can assure you, we will be doing everything within our power to keep the students safe, as well as giving them the education they need. If need be, we will lay down our lives to ensure they are protected.”

The women look at him with inscrutable expressions. 

“Please don’t, Toshinori-san. You’re too important to my family for me to condone such a thing.” Inko’s eyes soften, and she takes one of his hands, engulfing it in her own. “Just… Promise to take care of yourself, and watch after the children.”

He promises. Before he leaves, Izuku hugs him and tells him to come back in two days for dinner. Or else, chair.

* * *

The Set’s become more cohesive since Kamino Ward, and it’s a problem waiting to happen. While being able to fight together, read each other’s movements is certainly advantageous, he can see the danger of codependency from a mile away.

Izuku tells him that he knows, and the internships are going to help. He watches Katsuki-kun become more volatile and Shouto-kun descend into a cooking frenzy and wonders if it’s a good idea.

* * *

Mirio-kun approaches him after he introduces Izuku to Nighteye. He’s upbeat as usual, but there’s a tinge of worry to it.

He says that Nighteye took Izuku on, which is good. He also says they’re constantly at each other’s throats, which is less good. It apparently came out that Mirio had been considered for One for All, and instead of being insecure in his position or hostile towards the other teen, Izuku has taken to the attitude that Nighteye’s disdain for him is uncalled for and offensive, and treats the man with barely-covered, passive aggressive hostility. Mirio thinks it’s just because of how Nighteye isn’t impressed with him, but Toshinori has the feeling it goes deeper than that. If his own feelings towards Izuku and the other Elements mean anything, the Sky is likely bristling at the thought of him somehow not being good enough for Toshinori. He knows the thought of it rankles at him.

He hesitates for a long, long while, before the chaos that is the raid on the Eight Precepts spurs him on. Izuku, Katsuki, and Ochako are withdrawn, not interacting with the others as much and shying away from his own attempts to talk. The day Izuku smiles at him plastically and tells him not to worry, he packs his bag and leaves the school the moment his last class is done. The other teachers are curious, but he ignores them.

People stare at him as he rides the train and walks to the hospital, but it’s easy to tune it out after decades of practice. The receptionist at the front desk is eager to help and points him to the right room, offering to show him the way. He politely declines.

Nighteye looks stunned when he enters the room. The door closes with a click, and he sits down in the chair by the bed silently. His former sidekick, when he takes the chance to observe him, is covered in bandages, stomach swaddled and arm covered. From what Mirio-kun and Izuku told him, they had barely reconnected his arm in time. The blood loss had been significant.

“Osamu.” He’s gotten over his shock, and now he’s giving him a piercing glare. “We need to talk.”

* * *

Izuku approaches him sometime during December and outlines their plan.

Fumikage-kun had been the one to inspire it, bringing up the fact that there wasn’t a need to hide anymore, not really, so why not use their abilities proudly? And Izuku had run with it. They’re introducing the idea to Yuuei first, since the school is practically a breeding ground already for experimental ideas.

Fumikage-kun and Shouto-kun are making an effort to approach the other Departments, while Ochako-chan and Tenya-kun are coercing the teachers into preparing for activating their Flames without mentioning why. Katsuki-kun and Izuku are taking charge of 1-A’s training. Izuku asks him, carefully, to try and disperse the idea to other heroes. He agrees, of course. After his talk with Nighteye, it’s clear his word still has power, as weak as he is now.

He approaches his old classmates first. The Pussycats are dubious at the idea, but Tomoko latches onto it with a fervor and goes through the steps he outlines, eventually shining a bright yellow according to Shino. After that, they’re quick to believe what he says.

Tsunagu and Sakamata have seen much during their tenures. They don’t question him. Taishiro was there during the raid, and saw Toshinori’s students light up with Flame. Aoi is Aoi, and immediately internalizes the information. He doesn’t approach Todoroki.

From there, the rumour of a “universal Quirk” spreads through the Hero community.

The day before winter break, the Set pulls in as much of the faculty as they can, and they let their rings and Flames spark everyone else’s. Nedzu already knows, of course he does, but he pretends for the sake of explanations, letting Izuku say his piece. The green-haired teen wants them to be introduced the curriculum, sees them as an invaluable resource.

Nedzu agrees. He is a pragmatic mammal.

* * *

The Set files Intent to Jointly Collaborate forms at the start of the new term, and it cements that their agencies will be allowing them to do group work for the foreseeable future. Toshinori is glad for them, for all that he feels like an outsider now. Izuku is ecstatic, Katsuki-kun calm for once in his life, and class is booming.

One afternoon, as they leave for the day, Izuku pulls him aside and asks if he wants to go to a cafe. He agrees, because there’s a gleam in the boy’s eye that says he wants to talk. They go to an out-of-the-way cat cafe, waving at Aizawa-kun in the corner as they sit and order tea. Izuku blows on his, a contemplative expression on his face.

“So, you know we filed team forms.”

“I’m fairly certain the whole school knows,” He points out drily, “The last to do so this early were the Pussycats, and they filed it in their second year thanks to two members being freshmen.” Izuku nods.

“Yeah, yeah. We’re um, planning to open an agency when we graduate. It’ll be hard, I know, but we want to.”

“Are you sure that’s wise? There will be paperwork to handle, stigma against your age, a whole new workload to manage. You might want to stay under different agencies for a year or so first.”

“Well, I had an idea, to help with that, sort of.” Izuku clears his throat, nervous. “I was thinking- we could, we could use someone with experience to help, but we would need someone we could trust, that we wouldn’t need to hide anything from, and someone who wouldn’t add to the doubt. I was, uhm, thinking, that could uh, be… you. If you’re. Okay with it.”

Toshinori blinks slowly. “You… want me to…”

“Be our advisor.”

He stirs his tea. Sips at it. “Are you-?”

“Yes.”

“...I’d be honoured, Izuku.”

* * *

The week of the end of their first year, the teens present him with a ring. It’s dull iron, uneven metal forming a simple band with a multicoloured stone inlaid. He turns it over and over in his hands, looking up at them with a silent question.

“It turns out,” Izuku says brightly, “That if you mix Sky, Mist, and Lightning Flames enough, you can get an illusion that functions about as well as the real thing. Nana-obasan says it’s as strong as her Uncle Mukuro’s illusions, which means that they’re indistinguishable from reality.” Toshinori has no idea what that means. He slips it on, though, because he’s pretty sure the kids wouldn’t kill him.

He wheezes at the sudden feeling of  _ fullness _ , the abrupt ease of breathing. He pats at his chest, unbuttons his shirt to look at himself. His scar is a white ghost on his side. Toshinori looks at the children. They grin back. 

He smiles through the tears as he drags them into a messy hug.

**Author's Note:**

> Come chatter with me on tumblr!  
> thelennystorm.tumblr.com  
> 

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Renew](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12693213) by [readerdreamer5625](https://archiveofourown.org/users/readerdreamer5625/pseuds/readerdreamer5625)




End file.
